LeBron James Owns Up to NBA Ratings Loss to NFL on Kelce Podcast: 'You Kicked Our A**'
LeBron James didn't hold back in his appearance on the New Heights podcast with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce. Right out of the gate, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar admitted that the NFL crushed the NBA in Christmas Day 2024 viewership.
"I saw the f***ing numbers after the fact," James said on the show, conceding that the NFL's pair of holiday games dominated the ratings.
"You guys kicked our a**, OK?" the basketball legend continued. "From a viewership standpoint, you kicked our a**."
Indeed, the NFL's Christmas slate drew a whopping 65 million U.S. viewers across two games, according to Nielsen data.
LeBron on NBA vs. NFL Ratings
Meanwhile, the NBA, which hosted five matchups throughout the holiday, averaged only about 5.25 million viewers per game.
On New Heights, James, 39, tried to defend the NBA, explaining that he felt obligated to stand up for his league, even after he previously declared to an on-court reporter that Christmas "belonged to the NBA" following the Lakers' narrow 115-113 win over the Golden State Warriors.
Read more: Mark Zuckerberg Slams Biden Administration Over COVID Content Demands on Joe Rogan Podcast
Still, LeBron acknowledged the NFL had a star-studded advantage, joking, "When you have f***ing Beyoncé come out there, Pat Mahomes and you guys go there and kick Pittsburgh's a**..."
The conversation with the Kelce brothers also turned nostalgic, touching on James' past as a high school football star at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. He reflected on how close he came to pursuing football during the 2011 NBA lockout.
"I actually thought about it a little bit back then," James said, imagining himself as a hybrid of Calvin "Megatron" Johnson and Rob Gronkowski. "But that's the only time I seriously considered it," he added.
James also explained that the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016 NBA championship remains his career highlight, calling it "the most memorable moment" of his life.
"Coming back from 3-1 to the 73-9 Warriors — that one was for Cleveland and all of Northeast Ohio," he said.
And James even gave a shoutout to this year's Cavs squad, calling them "amazing" and predicting they could do "something special" this season. See the episode below.
LeBron and Diddy
One thing not touched on, however, was LeBron's ties to Sean "Diddy" Combs, the currently incarcerated music mogul facing federal charges related to sex trafficking and racketeering.
James, for his part, has not been implicated in any of Diddy's alleged crimes. However, the resurfacing of James' 2020 comment about Diddy's parties and a recent heckling incident at an NFL game have kept the association alive in the public's mind.
Last month, former UFC champion Colby Covington brought it up again during a pre-fight media scrum, all but accusing the Lakers star of attending parties linked to Diddy — events shrouded in controversy due to their alleged debauchery and ongoing legal implications.
"What does he mean by, 'There's no party like a Diddy party'?" Covington asked reporters, referencing the now infamous remark James made during the 2020 Instagram Live session with Combs. "How many Diddy parties have you been to, LeBron? Is that why you left social media?"
