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    History of lions, cowboy games on vacation

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    The NFL on Thanksgiving Day had some memorable moments, from Clint Longley leading a Cowboys comeback in 1974 and a national TV showcase for the incomparable Barry Sanders to the infamous Butt Fumble in 2012 and Leon Lett’s 1993 blunder.

    NFL games on Thanksgiving have been a tradition since the league’s inception in 1920 (there were six games in that first season!).

    This season – for the 19th season in a row – will feature three matches:

    A third prime-time game was added in 2006 and features teams other than the Lions and Cowboys, each playing their traditional Thanksgiving home games.

    Why do the Lions always play on Thanksgiving?

    Watching the Detroit Lions lose on Thanksgiving Day had become a unique holiday tradition. The Lions have lost their last seven Thanksgiving Day games and have an all-time record of 37-45-2 going into Turkey Day. However, that trend could end this year as the Lions are off to their best start since starting 10-0 in 1934, which was a pivotal year for the Lions franchise and Thanksgiving football.

    If you’ve often found yourself berating yourself over the years for the fact that the Lions always play on Thanksgiving, it’s George A. Richards who is responsible. In 1934, Richards purchased the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans for $8,000 and moved the team to Detroit, naming the team the Lions (inspired by the local baseball team, the Tigers).

    Although Thanksgiving football was normal for the NFL from the beginning, it was Richards who took it to another level. Richards was a radio executive and used his connections to make a deal with NBC to broadcast a Thanksgiving game nationally on the 94-station network. Richards also convinced Chicago Bears owner/coach George Halas to be the Lions’ opponent, suggesting the game would give the fledgling NFL crucial exposure. The game was a huge success; a Detroit-record crowd attended the game, while listeners in the US enjoyed the gridiron action over the airwaves. A new great American tradition was born.

    With the exception of 1939-44 during World War II, the Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving Day game every year since 1934. The first nationally televised game was in 1953, when the Lions defeated the Green Bay Packers on their way to winning a second straight NFL game. championship.

    A year after that first Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit, the Lions collected the first NFL title in team history. Detroit would win three more championships in the 1950s before enduring a title drought that Detroit continues to enjoy to this day.

    Despite the lack of on-field success for the Lions, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell only briefly hinted in 2009 at changing the Thanksgiving Day schedule to allow more teams to host games during the holiday. This year, NFL schedule makers must be happy to have Detroit in this national showcase on such a revered holiday.

    Why do the Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving?

    By the mid-1960s, the NFL was well on its way to becoming the entertainment giant it is today. Television networks, eager to satisfy the public’s sporting appetite, teamed up with the NFL to add a second Thanksgiving Day game for the 1966 season. Dallas Cowboys team president Tex Schramm cleverly offered his team to participate to participate in a Thanksgiving game, as long as Dallas would host the game every year.

    That decision – as well as the team’s lengthy success from the mid-1960s well into the 1980s – was a major contributor to the Cowboys earning the nickname “America’s Team.”

    With the exception of two seasons since 1966 — in 1975 and 1977 when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a Thanksgiving Day game — the Cowboys have hosted a game during the holiday, always scheduled after the Detroit Lions’ annual game. Unlike the Lions, the Cowboys enjoy success on Thanksgiving, posting an all-time record of 33-22-1 on the holiday.

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