Why do Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always

For as long as most of us can keep in mind, the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have performed video games on Thanksgiving Day. But why?

Let’s start with the Lions. They have performed every Thanksgiving since 1934, with the exception of 1939-44, despite the fact they haven’t been a good crew most of those years. The Lions performed their first season in Detroit in 1934 (before that, they have been the Portsmouth Spartans). They struggled their first yr in Detroit, as most sports activities followers there beloved baseball’s Detroit Tigers and didn’t come out in droves to watch the Lions. So Lions proprietor George A. Richards had an thought: Why not play on Thanksgiving?

Richards also owned radio station WJR, which was one of the largest stations in the nation at that time. Richards had a lot of clout in the broadcasting world, and satisfied NBC to air the sport nationwide. The NFL champion Chicago Bears got here to city, and the Lions offered out the 26,000-seat University of Detroit area for the first time. Richards stored the custom going the next two years, and the NFL stored scheduling them on Thanksgiving when they resumed enjoying on that date after World War II ended. Richards offered the crew in 1940 and died in 1951, but the custom he began continues today when the Lions play the Green Bay Packers.

The Cowboys first performed on Thanksgiving in 1966. They got here into the league in 1960 and, as onerous as it’s to consider now, struggled to draw followers because they have been fairly unhealthy those first few years. General supervisor Tex Schramm principally begged the NFL to schedule them for a Thanksgiving sport in 1966, pondering it would get them a reputation increase in Dallas and also nationwide since the sport could be televised.

It labored. A Dallas-record 80,259 tickets have been offered as the Cowboys defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-14. Some Cowboys followers level to that sport as the start of Dallas turning into “America’s team.” They have missed enjoying on Thanksgiving only in 1975 and 1977, when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle opted for the St. Louis Cardinals instead.

The video games with the Cardinals proved to be losers in the scores, so Rozelle requested the Cowboys if they might play again in 1978.

“It was a dud in St. Louis,” Schramm told the Chicago Tribune in 1998. “Pete asked if we’d take it back. I said only if we get it permanently. It’s something you have to build as a tradition. He said, ‘It’s yours forever.’ ”

Dallas takes on the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday.