On Christmas Eve, or December 24, the competition is not held in the Western (relatively Christian) world, but the very next day both the National Basketball League (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) players return to the courts. After a day, the games in the National Hockey League (NHL) start again, as well as a very intense round of games in the English Premier League, considered the best football league in the world.
Organizers of several winter sports competitions do not slow down at the end of the year. The exception in this case is ice rink sports, including biathlon, whose representatives are given a longer rest period. However, many have to go to the start on New Year’s Eve or the first day of the new year, and they don’t really feel this holiday. Due to the climatic conditions, most of the football clubs of northern European countries go into hibernation, but the new Eurocup play-off procedure has also introduced its own adjustments in this regard.
CHRISTMAS GAMES
Sports have long been part of the entertainment industry, and that’s how the executives of North America’s biggest and richest professional leagues see it, according to ESPN. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, it is customary to spend the evening of December 24 with family and in a quiet atmosphere, but already the next day, society demands not only bread, but also entertainment. And those come in the form of heavily promoted NBA or NFL games. Those who are lucky enough to buy the not-so-cheap tickets for these matches often do not remember the results of the games, being more fascinated by the ostentatiousness typical of Christmas markets and sales. But there is also no shortage of true fans who, already in the summer, when the regular season calendars are announced, it is clear that they will be watching the given game either in person, or on TV screens, or at least on a smartphone the size of a frying pan.
It is interesting that at one time (in the twenties of the last century) the tradition of Christmas games was started by the NHL, but since 1971, the hockey players of this league have holidays on both December 24 and 25, writes Hockey News. And such a decision has nothing to do with the desire to rest the players. Professional leagues are governed by the laws of business, and considering that hockey lags behind American football, basketball or baseball in terms of popularity, it was concluded that competing for a significant viewership during the holidays does not make much sense.
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