While some people sit down on Thanksgiving to watch the Macy’s Day Parade or have turkey and stuffing, millions watch NFL Thanksgiving Day football games. These games have been a key tradition in the United States for years, but where exactly did they start?
This yearly tradition started around a hundred years ago in 1934. George A. Richards purchased the Portsmouth Spartans, an NFL team, and moved them to Detroit. He renamed them the Detroit Lions, which is still what they are named today. Richards saw that the Detroit Tigers, the city’s baseball team, was dominating sports news, and knew he needed to make big moves to keep the Lions in the spotlight.
He made the decision to hold a football game on Thanksgiving, knowing that many people had this day off work and were likely to buy tickets or tune in to the game. This was clearly the right choice, as the 26,000 tickets to the game sold out two weeks prior to the game. In a close match, the Bears beat the Lions 19-16. Despite this loss, the game was deemed a success and they played again on Thanksgiving the following year. The Lions also went on to win the NFL Championship that year.
Since then, the Lions have played a game on Thanksgiving every year with only a few exceptions during World War II. It has also become a common tradition in high schools and colleges across the country, but particularly in Detroit, the city that set up this tradition.
For around 30 years, the Lions were the only team to have games in their city on Thanksgiving, but the tradition expanded in 1966 to the Dallas Cowboys. Like the Lions, they also began having a home game every year. The NFL expanded on this again, adding a non-specific game to Thanksgiving in 2006. While there aren’t specific teams that play, the teams with the most Thanksgiving games are the Bears and Packers.
This year is no exception to the tradition. The Chicago Bears are playing the Lions in Detroit, the New York Giants are playing the Cowboys in Dallas and the Miami Dolphins are playing the Packers in Green Bay. These three games are at 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8:20 p.m., respectively.
To add to the festivities, each game will have a halftime performance from different artists. Shaboozey will perform in Detroit, Lainey Wilson will perform in Dallas and Lindsey Stirling is playing in Green Bay.
The NFL isn’t the only organization with this tradition. Some colleges also have football games on Thanksgiving. In 1876, much earlier than the NFL, Princeton and Yale met for the first college game played on Thanksgiving. This game led to a harsh rivalry between these two teams and games between the two became a massive event.
While fans of Princeton and Yale watched the games every year, having parades before games and cheering on their teams, football games on Thanksgiving didn’t gain much popularity until the Lions made it a tradition. Now, high school, college and professional teams all play football games on Thanksgiving.
While the players on these teams fight for another win in their season, fans across the country can relax and be thankful for the games, performances and food while enjoying their Thanksgiving. From normal fans to the extreme football enjoyers, this tradition is fun for all and provides some excitement on Thanksgiving.
