“An NFL trade is never getting 109M views”: NBA and NFL fans spar over Micah Parsons' dramatic ultimatum on Cowboys

NBA and NFL fans are sparring over trade requests in the respective leagues after Micah Parsons' major announcement on Friday. Parson said that contract negotiations with his team had fallen apart and announced that he no longer wishes to play for the Dallas Cowboys.

In his message on X, Micah Parsons suggested growing tired of the team’s reluctance to negotiate a new contract. He posted a three-page message on X, explaining the situation and wrote:

“Thank you Dallas 🦁👑 🙏🏾! I”

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Parsons’ tweet, now at 26 million views, had reached 14+ million views two hours after being posted.

One NFL fan took note of the tweet’s reach and took a shot at NBA fans, saying:

“A NBA trade request is never getting 14 mil views in 2 hours.”

Fans came to the league’s defense, pointing towards the magnitude of the Luka Doncic trade.

One fan said:

A fan opined:

Another fan defended the NBA, saying no trade in the NFL will have the reach of Luka Doncic’s trade:

“A NFL trade is never getting 109M views either so….”

One fan went to the NFL’s defense, pointing towards the basketball league's declining viewership:

Another fan said:

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The NBA's strong social media presence can be attributed to the league's younger audience

There’s not much of a comparison to be made between the NFL and the NBA’s average viewership for regular-season games. The NFL’s regular season has fewer games spread further apart, leading to more viewership.

Meanwhile, the basketball league's regular season features 82 games, with matchups lined up every other day for almost six months. The difference in structure has a massive impact on viewership.

The NFL averaged 17.5 million viewers for regular-season games in 2024, and the NBA averaged 1.53 million viewers.

However, the league still has more traction on social media thanks to its relatively younger audience. Basketball as a sport also has more global appeal, allowing the league to bring in more revenue by taking its product overseas.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash