I has always wondered why , dallas and detriot play on thanksgiving at home every year.?

Question

it is awsome to hae football on turkyday, just asways bugged me that i never knew why .

Answer 1

Detroit started playing Thanksgiving games in 1934. In Michigan there was a tradition of playing the Michigan high school championship game on Thanksgiving. So the Detroit owner decided that he would increase the crowd level by playing on Thanksgiving. Detroit has played on Thanksgiving ever since. The game has been on national tv from 1956 onward.
In 1964 CBS(which owned the NFL tv rights at the time) wanted a 2nd Thanksgiving game to televise. Dallas volunteered to be that team. A few times in the mid-1970's did the game go to another spot(St. Louis in 1977 most notably when the Dolphins beat up the Cardinals 55-10). In 1978 Dallas agreed to return to playing on Thanksgiving, as long as they would be given the home Thanksgiving game every year.
So therfore Detroit and Dallas get the home Thanksgiving games every year.

Answer 2

Contrary to most of the answers here, it is beyond tradition. Back when there were two football leagues in the 1970's, the NFL merged with the AFL creating the current system of the National Football League. The Lions and Cowboys were part of the NFL and contracted an agreement with the AFL to play Thanksgiving games. It is under heavy scrutiny that this is unfair for other teams as both Dallas and Detroit have experience playing this annual game with four days rest, while other teams do not have the comfort of expecting a Thanksgiving game until the release of the season schedule.

Answer 3

Detroit's annual Thanksgiving Day bash goes way back -- all the way to 1934, the first year the transplanted Portsmouth Spartans played as the Lions in the Motor City. After a five-year run, the club took Turkey Day off until World War II was over. It's been going strong ever since.

Answer 4

I believe it started long ago when no other teams wanted to play on Thanksgiving, rather spending it at home with their family. Now that they see the ratings for it since everyone is at home watching it, the NFL Network added a third to give some other teams a chance to play. But I do get tired of seeing Detroit play, their horrible. I think they should play for the slot, and the winner of the two games can have a home game next Thanksgiving. I think that would be fair.

Cheers!

Answer 5

Others have given you the reasons, but I would like to add that for years they were the only two teams that would play on Thanksgiving. Most teams refused to play on that day. Now that it is a big money game other teams have begun to complain about it. I say since Dallas and Detroit were willing to do it when it was not profitable they should keep it now.

Answer 6

Because in the 20s Detroit thought of the idea to play, since most people in the 20s worked on Saturday and Sunday, it would be a great day for everyoen to play football. Since they came up with this idea, they play on this day every year. We were just talknig about this today. It was also on the discovery channel a few days ago :)

Answer 7

I think it is great that the rest of America gets to see what we in this region have to suffer with on a weekly basis. The Lions should always host the 12:30 game on Thanksgiving Day.

Answer 8

The Ford family, owners of the Lions, agreed to do it every year. The Cowboys agreed to do it when they entered the league in 1960.

Answer 9

it was something that became a tradition years ago.

In 2005, those teams were both so terrible that the league agreed to start changing the matchups.

Answer 10

Tradition. They get the games because they have got them for years. It is really why does the Lions get it. I can see the Cowboys keeping their game BUT why the LIONS?