Charles Barkley isn't afraid to speak his mind when something bothers him.
The NBA legend just went after one of the most powerful men in sports.
And two words from Charles Barkley just humiliated Roger Goodell on national TV.
Charles Barkley unleashes on NFL Commissioner during Christmas broadcast
NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley opened ESPN's Christmas Day basketball coverage by dropping a bomb on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that echoed across social media.
The blunt-spoken former basketball star called out Goodell and the entire NFL during Inside the NBA, branding them "greedy pigs" for muscling in on what has traditionally been the NBA's biggest day of the year.
"The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games," Barkley declared on ESPN. "We used to have this day to ourselves, but Roger Goodell and them pigs at the NFL always want to hog every day of the week now."¹
"Christmas is an NBA day," Barkley added.¹
For decades, the NFL stuck to its lane — Thanksgiving, Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays.
Then in 2020, Goodell decided that wasn't enough and started grabbing Christmas too, even when it fell on days football doesn't normally air.
This year marked the sixth consecutive season the NFL scheduled Christmas games, with three matchups spread across Netflix and Amazon Prime Video streaming platforms.
The Cowboys defeated the Commanders 30-23 in the Netflix opener before the Vikings crushed the Lions 23-10 in the afternoon matchup.
Prime Video aired the Broncos-Chiefs game at night, though injuries to starting quarterbacks across the league significantly weakened the overall slate.
Barkley has pattern of calling out NFL greed
This wasn't the first time Barkley accused the NFL of putting profits over fans.
In January 2024, the basketball commentator ripped the league for airing a playoff game exclusively on NBC's Peacock streaming service.
"That's not cool. They're just being greedy pigs," Barkley said on ESPN Radio at the time. "I'm glad some NFL players are taking some shots at them. I know the NFL is the biggest thing in the world, but to put this game on Peacock and make people have to buy Peacock, that's just low class. I'm disgusted."²
The NFL collected $110 million from NBC for that single Peacock playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins — and Barkley wasn't having it.
The league rakes in $20 billion annually, but apparently that's not enough.
The NBA has aired Christmas games for 78 consecutive years, turning the holiday into basketball's showcase event with matchups featuring the league's biggest stars.
This year's five-game slate on ABC included the Lakers facing the Rockets, the Warriors taking on the Mavericks, and the Nuggets battling the Timberwolves.
Last year, the NFL's Christmas doubleheader on Netflix drew 24.2 million viewers while the NBA's five games combined pulled 5.34 million.
Sports leagues wage war over America's attention
Barkley's anger stems from the NFL's relentless expansion into every possible broadcast window that can generate massive ratings.
The league already dominates Thanksgiving with three games annually, commands Sunday afternoons and evenings, owns Monday nights, and has claimed Thursday nights.
Now Christmas has become another battleground as the NFL leverages streaming platforms desperate for premium sports content.
Netflix and Amazon paid enormous sums to secure Christmas games, viewing NFL football as the ultimate subscriber magnet.
The strategy works because football consistently delivers the biggest audiences in American television.
Look at the numbers — the NFL's Thanksgiving Cowboys-Chiefs game pulled 57 million viewers on CBS this year.
That's not a typo. Fifty-seven million people watched one regular season game.
Football buries everything else on television and it's not even close.
That kind of dominance explains why the NFL feels emboldened to claim Christmas despite the NBA's decades-long history with the holiday.
Barkley can complain all he wants about "greedy pigs," but Goodell and the owners aren't backing down when billions of dollars are at stake.
The NFL's Christmas ratings proved the league was right to expand, even if it means steamrolling the NBA's traditional showcase day.
Basketball may have owned Christmas for 78 years, but those days are over now that football figured out the holiday generates massive viewership and advertising revenue.
Barkley's "greedy pigs" comment went viral on social media and sparked heated debate about whether the NFL has gone too far in its quest to dominate every corner of American sports.
But the reality is simple – the NFL prints money wherever it goes, and no amount of criticism from basketball legends will slow down Roger Goodell's expansion plans.
¹ Ryan Gaydos, "Charles Barkley blasts NFL for Christmas Day games," Fox News, December 25, 2025.
² Ibid.
