For Edmonton Oilers fans, I hope you are spending time with family and loved ones today. That is what this time of year is all about. Some sports fans though are interrupting their time with family and friends by turning on either a football or basketball game. For years the NBA have been the only major league playing on Christmas, but this year the NFL decided to take a swing at it. This brings up the question of will the NHL ever play on Christmas.
Why would the NHL play of Christmas Day?
The only reason I could see the NHL playing games on Christmas Day is to make more money. However, I think the NHL playing in competition with the NBA and NFL on a big day like Christmas would only hurt their revenue. While in Canada the NHL is the top dog, in the USA, in most of the major markets, the NHL is near the bottom of the food chain.
The NBA plays on the regular sports networks, while the NFL is streaming on Netflix, which doesn't leave much room for the NHL. While the NHL has found a home on Amazon Prime on Monday nights could that correlate to a Christmas game one day? I hope not.
Stay away from Christmas for the players
As I mentioned at the start of this article, I believe Christmas is meant for spending time with your friends and family. For professional athletes, while we may treat them like they are not real people sometimes, they are real people with families. Those players playing in the NFL and NBA today, will not get to spend much time with their own families today, but for the players in the NHL, they get to spend a lot of time with their families.
That is one thing I like about the NHL is that they do not play games from December 24 to the 26th. This gives players lots of time to travel to and spend time with their families. Which is something the other two leagues do not do. I might be speaking out of turn here, but I would much rather be drinking a breakfast mimosa on Christmas than preparing for a high-intensity sporting match. I am sure that the NHL players not playing today think the same thing.
While I am sure that at some point the NHL will move to playing on Christmas and I am not going to lie, if they do I will watch it. I just don't think it is needed. Today I am not at all missing the NHL, I am busy with my family enjoying everything else there is that comes with today.
From all of us here at Oil On Whyte, I wish you a happy and healthy Holiday Season. 🎄