Why the Cowboys and Lions Play on Thanksgiving

Arlington, Texas and Detroit, Michigan aren’t exactly sister cities, but they do have at least one big thing in common (and it’s a thing that’s a mainstay of many families’ holiday sports traditions): Every Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys and Lions each host a football game. In the 2025 NFL season, the Thanksgiving tradition will continue as the Lions face the Green Bay Packers at 1:00 p.m. ET and the Cowboys take on the Kansas City Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. ET. A third traditional game, introduced for primetime in 2006, will feature the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Baltimore Ravens at 8:20 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day.

The Lions first did it during their inaugural season in Detroit, in 1934, and Dallas went for it during the 1966 season, but both the Motor City and Dallas had pre-existing (if tenuous) ties to the holiday. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that both the Cowboys and the Lions committed to an annual tradition of hosting Thanksgiving games, and it would take until very recently for a third Thanksgiving game and a weekly Thursday night game to allay worries as to whether both cities deserved to continue the tradition.

The 2025 Thanksgiving games will also be celebrated with hometown halftime performances by Jack White in Detroit and Post Malone in Texas, while Lil Jon headlines in Baltimore.

Learn more about the history behind why the Cowboys and Lions play on Thanksgiving below.

History of NFL Thanksgiving Games in Detroit

Even before the founding of the NFL, professional and semi-pro football was deeply popular in Detroit. In 1917, the Detroit Heralds hosted a Thanksgiving game against the Canton Bulldogs. The first NFL game on Thanksgiving in Detroit followed on November 26, 1925, when the first-place Detroit Panthers and owner, coach and quarterback Jimmy Conzelman were upset by the Rock Island Independents, 6-3.

After three failed attempts at sustaining an NFL franchise in the Motor City, the Detroit Lions had immediate success upon moving from Portsmouth, Ohio after the 1933 season. The Detroit Lions’ debut season included their first Thanksgiving game on November 29, 1934 in a 16-19 loss to the Chicago Bears. However, the Lions’ luck turned the following year when they not only won their second Turkey Day matchup against the Bears, but later claimed the franchise’s first NFL Championship. Detroit did not host a Thanksgiving game from 1939 to 1944, initially due to a debate over when to observe the holiday, and then due to World War II.

The Lions won three NFL championships in the six seasons between 1952 and 1957, and dominated Thanksgiving as well, going 8-2 in those games during the 1950s. In 1962, the Lions beat Vince Lombardi’s Packers in what would be Green Bay’s only defeat of the season. Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium opened its doors in 1975 as the largest stadium in the NFL, with the domed facility officially known as the Silverdome after 1977; it became an unofficial part of countless family holidays until Ford Field opened in 2002.

Detroit has been home to some generational superstars in recent decades, including Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, but with the exception of two deep playoff runs in 1991 and 2023, the team has seen more downs than ups. The Lions’ nadir came in 2008, when the franchise went 0-16, and lost an especially humbling Thanksgiving game to the Tennessee Titans, 47-10. However, Detroit has continuously battled their way back to respectability, and finally, contention. From 2013 to 2016, the Lions won four consecutive Thanksgiving games, including every fellow member of the NFC North, and snapped a seven-year drought in 2024 with another classic Lions-Bears rivalry match.

History of NFL Thanksgiving Games in Dallas

The National Football League’s first attempt at a Dallas-based franchise lasted one season in 1952, when a Dallas Texans team salvaged from the recently defunct New York Yanks was given back to the league midseason. In their second-to-last game and only victory, the Dallas Texans played a “home” game on Thanksgiving in Akron, Ohio against the Chicago Bears.

By the early 1960s, the Metroplex found itself with two pro football franchises: the AFL’s Dallas Texans and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Though the Texans succeeded on the field, owner Lamar Hunt moved the team to Kansas City in 1963 to become the Chiefs. Dallas initially struggled, but eventually became “America’s Team” in part due to the showcase they were given every Thanksgiving starting with their first holiday game on November 24, 1966. A miraculous comeback on Thanksgiving 1974 behind rookie backup quarterback Clint Longley helped cement the association between Turkey Day and the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1975 and 1977, the St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals hosted Thanksgiving Day games at Busch Memorial Stadium, partly to allay complaints of Dallas’ perceived unfair advantage, but mostly to boost the national visibility of a fun, young team on the rise. The move backfired when the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins blew out St. Louis in these games. Commissioner Pete Rozelle re-offered the games to Dallas (who hosted and defeated the Cards on Thanksgiving 1976), and team president Tex Schramm agreed, on the condition that the arrangement was permanent.

Texas Stadium in suburban Irving opened in 1971, and became known for what Cowboys linebacker D.D. Lewis called “…a hole in its roof so God can see His favorite football team play.” Although the distinctive hole was more the result of structural issues than divine fandom, it allowed for a rather infamous occurrence on Thanksgiving 1993, when a rare Texas snowstorm hit contributed to Leon Lett’s fumble in the end zone and cost the Cowboys the game against the Dolphins. Such issues have now been resolved with the opening of AT&T Stadium in Arlington in 2009, and Dallas continues to be a fixture during the Thanksgiving holiday.

In their recent Thanksgiving appearances, the Cowboys notched three consecutive wins between 2022 and 2024. All three matchups remained in the NFC East, with two more Dallas W’s in the ongoing Cowboys-Giants rivalry, along with a decisive 45-10 victory against the Washington Commanders in 2023.