Why do the Detroit Lions always play Thanksgiving?

[Tall_James]

What's the deal? How come every Thanksgiving we are forced to watch this mediocre team?

And, do you think some free agents stay away from the Lions because they will never have a normal Thanksgiving dinner?

[furie]

it seems that Green Bay plays every year too


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[McNabbShouldDie]

Dont forget those Dallas Cowboys and their yearly Thanksgiving Day games.

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[newport king]

at least a couple of years ago no matter how bad detroit was we could at least watch barry sanders. but these last few years these games are usually a bore. the dalls game should be ok today, and if you are a betting man take detroit plus the 7 points.

~another newport king joint~

[Heavy]

They were like the only team willing to do it back in 45.

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[Sblueman]

The Lions have been playing home games on Thanksgiving since 1934, when the Lions owner scheduled a contest against the Bears. The Thanksgiving Day game is very special for Lions fans and the city of Detroit in general-- it's one of the few times that the attention of most of the country is focused on Detroit, and it gives the fans something special to celebrate. The Lions have become the "team of Thanksgiving."

If you want to find out more about it, the Lions website has a whole set of pages devoted to the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving games:

http://www.detroitlions.com/history/index.cfm?cont_id=23782

The Q&A file they have there is particularly helpful and interesting.

As for the Cowboys, from what I understand, the NFL was looking for another "Thanksgiving team," and Dallas agreed to fill that role, starting in 1966. Some of the other team owners may grumble that the Lions and Cowboys are "lucky" to have the Thanksgiving spots every year, but the truth is that, at the time, they were the only teams that would agree to take them.

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This message was edited by Sblueman on 11-27-03 @ 12:45 PM

[mothershucker]

I think I heard on Mike and the Mad Dog that it had to do with the Detroit Thanksgiving day parade. They also said that Dallas was the only team willing to host every year when they where looking for a second game back in the 60's, and that they may soon add a night game in ESPN.

I shucked it, and I shucked it, and I shucked it, i'm quite the mother shucker