Are you ready for some football? For many Americans, it’s tough to imagine Thanksgiving without some the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys on TV.
While it may annoy those who prefer polite conversation to arguments about pass interference, the NFL has successfully staked its claim to Turkey Day. But even as things have expanded—the league added a third game to the holiday slate in 2006 and never looked back—Detroit and Dallas have maintained their traditional sports as the hosts of the first two games. But have you ever wondered why those two teams
Get that annual honor?
As with many other seasonal mysteries, it largely comes down to tradition.
Why Do the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions Always Play on Thanksgiving?
If you’re a Cowboys fan, you owe your Thanksgiving Day plans to former president and general manager Tex Schramm.
As laid out in a 2021 Dallas Morning News post, Schramm volunteered his team for a second Thanksgiving Day game (the Lions, as we’ll discuss shortly, were already playing on the holiday). The offer, however, came on one condition: the Cowboys would play that contest at home.
Dallas took to the field on Thanksgiving 1966 and beat the visiting Cleveland Browns 26-14. To make things even sweeter for Schramm, more than 82,000 fans piled into the Cotton Bowl to watch the game.
The Cowboys have played away from home twice, in 1975 and 1977, but those games were outliers.
But what about the Lions? They were already playing on Thanksgiving before the Cowboys came onto the scene.
As explained by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the tradition dates back to 1934 when George A. Richards bought the Portsmouth Spartans, moved them to Detroit and rebranded the club as the Lions. Looking to make a splash during the initial campaign in the Motor City, Richards not only scheduled a Thanksgiving game against the Chicago Bears, but struck a deal with NBC to broadcast the game across 94 radio stations.
Detroit lost that day, but the game proved to be a massive public relations success. It was such a hit that, barring a break for World War II, the Lions have hosted an annual Turkey Day contest ever since.
What Was the ‘Thanksgiving Day Massacre’?
Over the years, we’ve seen all sorts of NFL games take place on Turkey Day. Only one, however, earned the title of the “Thanksgiving Day Massacre.”
That contest took place in 1962, when the defending champion Green Bay Packers visited the Detroit Lions. The hosts jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back.
Detroit’s defense, however, earned the headlines and limited Green Bay to 122 yards of total offense. Quarterback Bart Starr threw two interceptions and took his lumps from the Lions’ pass rush; the finer statistical details are unclear, but he was probably sacked at least 10 times. One of those tackles for a loss resulted in a safety, and another turned into a fumble that Detroit recovered for a touchdown.
While the 26-14 score line doesn’t seem that dramatic, the punishment that the Lions’ defense dished out, the game has earned a place in NFL history as the “Thanksgiving Day Massacre.”
Lions vs. Packers and Cowboys vs. Chiefs: TV Channel and How to Watch
With the history out of the way, how can you watch the Lions and the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day?
The Lions will host their division rival, the Green Bay Packers. That game, which occupies Detroit’s traditional spot in the on 1 pm Eastern window, will air on Fox.
Later in the afternoon, the Cowboys will host the Kansas City Chiefs starting at 4:30 pm Eastern. That matchup will be shown on CBS.
Lastly, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens will occupy the final broadcast window, which doesn’t have a traditional home team. That contest begins around 8:20 pm Eastern, fits into NBC’s Sunday Night Football slot on NBC.
If you prefer streaming to terrestrial TV, the games are available on NFL+ and each respective network’s digital platform, plus TV streaming services like FuboTV. They’ll also be on network TV in each team’s local market.