While talks of the NFL’s world domination continue, perhaps an underrated storyline going into Christmas Day is the NBA’s likely ratings rebound.

The NBA’s sluggish ratings so far this season have already been litigated to death by those covering sports media. Even the league’s commissioner and a media pundit turned head coach have weighed in. And while those discussions are based in truth — the NBA’s numbers are certainly down this year — the most important day on the league’s regular season calendar may prove to buck the narrative.

That’s because the NBA is set to own broadcast television on Christmas. The league will play five games back-to-back on ABC starting at noon ET and extending into the early hours of Boxing Day. And the best part? There won’t be any other sports on broadcast television to compete with.

The obvious caveat, of course, is that the NFL will be playing two games on Netflix in the afternoon at 1:00 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET. But competing with NFL games tucked away on a streaming service — one that fans aren’t accustomed to needing for football — while your games air on an easily accessible broadcast channel is a huge advantage.

Last year, the NBA had no such luxury. First off, instead of competing against just two NFL games, the NBA had to go up against three. Further, all three of those games were available on broadcast television, the preferred platform of NFL fans. Only two NBA games were shown on ABC, with the rest relegated to ESPN in order to make room for the NFL and its associated shoulder programming.

Viewership was predictably poor. Per Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, all five NBA games declined in viewership on Christmas Day last season. The slate of games finished down 30% in viewership year-over-year and was the least-watched Christmas Day in league history.

This year, the NBA will have ABC (and the rest of broadcast television) all to themselves. It’s not crazy to say that the league will benefit from the traditional platform, or even from football fans that are too lazy to switch the TV from a broadcast channel to a streaming service.

The NBA and ABC will have the added benefit of capitalizing on a strong lead-in this year as well. ESPN is producing a “Dunk the Halls” altcast featuring Mickey Mouse and friends that will air on ESPN2. The broadcast will undoubtedly get heavy promotion during Disney’s Christmas Parade on ABC at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Now, is there any chance the NBA comes close to NFL-level viewership, even as the league experiments on Netflix? Of course not. But the factors in play this season shape up very favorably for the NBA to see a significant year-over-year increase on Christmas Day.

The league goes from having two games on broadcast television to five. It only has to compete with two NFL games instead of three, and those games aren’t even on traditional TV. And the direct comparisons to last year will look favorable because it was the least-watched Christmas Day on record for the league.

Will this help the NBA’s overall viewership narrative? It likely depends on how strong the viewership actually is. If the league is able to secure increases over its 2022 Christmas Day audience — when ABC simulcast all five games against direct NFL competition from Fox, CBS, and NBC — that would be a huge success story.

But really any level of rebound from last year, which is almost a guarantee, will at least help soften the NBA’s slumping ratings narrative. Maybe then, the media can start talking about the games themselves instead of how many people are watching.

[Sports Media Watch]