New NFL Fans Are Just Now Discovering Why the Detroit Lions Play Every Thanksgiving

The Detroit Lions famously play a game on Thanksgiving Day every year. The football game in Detroit goes all the way back to the 1930s. The Detroit game was once the only professional sports on that holiday. Since the mid-1960s, the Dallas Cowboys added a home game and the NFL has scheduled a third game with random teams in a prime-time match-up.

The question came up recently on Reddit in a subreddit dedicated to the NFL.

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Historically it dates back to the Detroit Lions ownership saw a marketing and ticket sales advantage in having a solo game on that date. The Cowboys got in on the day's action when no other team wanted to play on the holiday with regularity.

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Fans chimed in:

There is no real advantage to playing on Thanksgiving, because when Detroit stinks they have lost several Thanksgiving games. Same with Dallas, I remember Earl Campbell and Randy Moss having great games against Dallas on Thanksgiving (yes I'm older than some of you).

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The Lions are an old...franchise and sometimes you get certain advantages that come along with that. Also, the embarrassment of being in the league so damn long and never making a Super Bowl. That comes with it, too.

Finally, it's Detroit. We don't get much. But we have that,

So maybe that last fan's thoughts are more based in emotion than fact, but it's not wrong.

Now, of course, those who work in sports know that they'll be in rotation to play on holidays to provide entertainment for those who are enjoying the holiday away from their jobs.