NBA Betting Preview: NBA Understands Fan Appeal On Christmas Day

The NBA has certain marketing strategies that simply work better than the NFL's. The biggest of these appear to be their commitment to bringing top notch entertainment to the biggest holidays of the year.

The Christmas Day NBA tradition has been filled with some of the top stars in their sport. Unlike the NFL, which continually brings sub par match ups to Thanksgiving Day thanks to their insistence on keeping the Cowboys and Lions happy, the NBA actually get what fans want.

This year is a prime example of the difference in philosophy between the two sports when it comes to holiday entertainment. The NFL brought us the Cowboys against Oakland Raiders, a team that has been buried in the standings since the early weeks of the season.

The other game on Thanksgiving Day featured the Green Bay Packers against a Lions team that had exactly zero wins last year, and has not been relevant since Barry Sanders retired.

There was one top match up Thanksgiving night between the Giants and the Broncos, but for millions of fans who do not have the NFL Network, that game could not be seen on television.

In contrast, the NBA will showcase what may believe are the leagues top four teams, containing undoubtedly the two top players in the sport. Boston, who won the title two years ago, faces Orlando, a team that played in the NBA Finals, in the first game on national television.

The second game features the leagues last two MVP's in LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Oh, and just for good measure, Shaq will be on the court as well.

The NBA has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to overtake the NFL as the most popular sport in the country, but it is moves like this one that make Howard Stern look like a commissioner that can someday get his sport to the top.

December 23, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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