On November 24, 2022, 42.1 million Americans tuned in to the National Football League’s presentation of the Dallas Cowboys against the New York Giants, making for the most watched regular season NFL game of all time. In fact, according to Front Office Sports, only two of the NFL’s top 10 most watched regular season games were not on Thanksgiving.
The tradition of Thanksgiving football has been going on since 1934 after the Portsmouth Spartans were purchased by radio executive George A. Richards. Following the purchase, the team was relocated to Detroit, Michigan, and rebranded as the ‘Lions.’ Due to the presence of the Detroit Tigers, the Lions were going to have to compete with Baseball for viewership, prompting Richards to opt for a Thanksgiving game.
The 1934 contest between the Chicago Bears and the Lions was played at the University of Detroit in front of a sold out crowd. Despite losing, Richards concluded that the Lions had a successful season in their first year in Detroit, and scheduled another Thanksgiving game for the following year. The Lion’s clutch 14-2 victory over the Bears in the 1935 Thanksgiving clash instilled the tradition of Thanksgiving football into the city of Detroit. Since then, the Lions have only missed playing on Thanksgiving six times, with the gap occurring between 1939-1944. The break was due to World War 2, when the NFL experienced a shortage of players and struggled to maintain normal season operations.
Later, in 1966, the Dallas Cowboys followed suit by establishing an annual Thanksgiving football game. Since then, the Lions and Cowboys have both hosted a game each and every year, usually making for some of the most entertaining and most watched regular season NFL games of the season.
Later, in 1989, Hall of Fame football commentator John Madden introduced the Turkey Leg Award. This award is given to players who had the most impactful performance during the game on Thanksgiving, and it’s a literal turkey leg that the player eats. More recently, NFL reporters have also started to interview players as they eat their turkey legs, which has quickly become a fan favorite. Coming up this year, the Thanksgiving slate is quite promising. The Bears will face the Lions at 10:30 am MST on CBS, the Cowboys will face the Giants at 2:30pm on Fox, and the Packers will face the Dolphins at 6:20 pm on NBC.