Why Do The Detroit Lions Always Play On Thanksgiving?

Households have their own unique Thanksgiving traditions, but one custom common in many homes come Turkey Day involves watching football. Each year on Thanksgiving, the National Football League hosts a handful of games, and it’s customary in many households to gather around the television with friends and family and take in some of the action on the gridiron, excitement that always features the Detroit Lions. This unique tradition has endured for decades, but when did it start? According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the tradition of the Lions playing on Thanksgiving can be traced to George A. Richards, who purchased the franchise in 1933 when they were the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans. Richards felt competing in a game on Thanksgiving Day would attract Motor City fans who were more devoted to the Detroit Tigers, the city’s baseball team. Fans who attended the Lions’ first Thanksgiving Day game in 1934 were treated to a nail-biter, with the hometown Lions falling 19-16 to the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit Stadium. The Bears had won the league championship the previous year. In a quirk unique to the game in 1934, the two teams locked horns again just three days later, with the Bears once more emerging victorious in another close contest that ended with a 10-7 score. In the modern era of the NFL, the teams that play on Thanksgiving Day do not play on the following Sunday.