Family, food and football are three of the Thanksgiving Day traditions for many families in the U.S., which comes on a day that the country’s major stock markets are closed.
A total of six NFL teams are now featured annually on the holiday, with two of the teams playing every year.
Lions and Cowboys Thanksgiving Day Games: Dating back to 1934, the Detroit Lions have played in the annual Thanksgiving Day game. The lone exceptions were the 1939 through 1944 seasons that weren’t played due to World War II. The games have become a staple for the National Football League.
The idea for the Thanksgiving Day game was created by former Lions owner G.A. Richards as a way to increase attendance and media hype for the team. Richards purchased the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans and moved them to Detroit prior to the tradition beginning.
The first Thanksgiving Day game was watched by over 26,000 live fans.
The Dallas Cowboys played on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, beating the Cleveland Browns 26-14. The Cowboys first Thanksgiving Day game was attended by 80,259 people. The Cowboys have played a Thanksgiving Day game every year since except 1975 and 1977.
Similar to the Lions, the Cowboys saw the holiday as a way to create more national media attention for the team.
The Lions created the concept, and the game pre-dates the Super Bowl and many of the NFL teams being created, which makes tradition the biggest reason why the Lions and Cowboys play in their respective games annually.
In 2006, the NFL added a primetime Thanksgiving Day game that features two rotating teams.
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Thanksgiving Day Stats: The Lions lost its first Thanksgiving Day game and haven’t had success in many of the contests: the franchise holds an all-time 37-44-2 record in Thanksgiving Day games. The Lions have lost six straight Thanksgiving Day games heading into the 2023 contest.
The Cowboys have had better success in their games, holding an all-time record of 32-22-1.
While they don’t play every year, two other teams that have been largely featured are the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, which hold all-time Thanksgiving Day records of 20-15-2 and 14-20-2, respectively.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are the only NFL team to never play in a Thanksgiving Day game.
2023 Thanksgiving…
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