60 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Football

The NFL has played games on Thanksgiving Day since its founding in which year?

The league scheduled no Thanksgiving games in 1941 as war loomed, and only the Lions' home game survived when play resumed in 1945.

Which team has hosted a game every Thanksgiving since 1934, apart from a wartime gap?

The franchise had only just arrived in Detroit that year, having started life as the Portsmouth Spartans in Ohio.

Lions owner George Richards began the Thanksgiving game to sell tickets. What other asset spread it nationwide?

He owned WJR, a big NBC Blue Network affiliate, and got NBC to carry his Thanksgiving games live across the country.

Whom did the Lions host in their first Thanksgiving game in 1934?

George Halas's team won 19-16 in front of 26,000; the tradition then paused from 1939 to 1944.

The Lions' Thanksgiving tradition was interrupted from 1939 to 1944 because of what?

Shortened wartime seasons meant no Thanksgiving games at all in 1941; the Lions resumed in 1945.

In which year did the Dallas Cowboys begin hosting a Thanksgiving Day game?

Team president Tex Schramm wanted the publicity of a permanent national TV slot; the Cowboys beat Cleveland 26-14 that first year.

Which Cowboys executive pushed for the team to take on Thanksgiving hosting duties in 1966?

Landry coached, Murchison owned and Brandt scouted; Schramm ran the front office and saw the marketing value.

Which team replaced Dallas as Thanksgiving host in 1975 and 1977?

Dallas hosted St. Louis in 1976 in between, and since 1978 Detroit and Dallas have hosted every single year.

A third Thanksgiving game, played at night, was added to the schedule in which year?

It first aired on the NFL Network, with NBC taking over in 2012; the night game has never had a fixed host team.

Whose surname was attached to the NFL's Thanksgiving Classic branding in 2022?

He had broadcast the games for two decades from 1981, on CBS and then Fox, and died in December 2021.

The Thanksgiving MVP drumstick tradition began in 1989 with which player?

After Madden said the Cowboys' offensive line would need more drumsticks, a Texas barbecue owner produced a six-legged turkey.

A turducken is a deboned chicken inside a deboned duck inside which larger bird?

Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme trademarked the name in 1986; a famous broadcaster ate his first on air in December 1996 at a Saints game.

The turducken was introduced to the Thanksgiving broadcast tradition in which year?

He famously sawed through one with his bare hand in the booth in November 2002 to show Al Michaels what was inside.

Which unknown Cowboys backup replaced Staubach in 1974 and hit Drew Pearson to beat Washington 24-23?

Nicknamed 'the Mad Bomber', he later punched Staubach in a 1976 training-camp fight and was traded to San Diego.

How many yards did O.J. Simpson rush for against the Lions on Thanksgiving 1976, then an NFL record?

Buffalo still lost 27-14; their quarterback Gary Marangi completed 4 of 21 passes for 29 yards.

The Lions handed a 10-0 team its only defeat of the 1962 season on Thanksgiving. What was the score?

The victims were the Green Bay Packers, the Lions' Thanksgiving opponent every year from 1951 to 1963 in a pairing nicknamed the 'Yooper Bowl'.

Which team was the Lions' Thanksgiving opponent every year from 1951 through 1963?

The run ended in 1963; the 1962 game cost Green Bay a perfect season.

Dave Williams won the first Thanksgiving overtime game in 1980 with a 95-yard kickoff return. Which team?

Detroit lost on its home field to the shortest overtime imaginable.

In the 1989 'Bounty Bowl', the Eagles were accused of putting a bounty on which Cowboys player?

Kicker Luis Zendejas had been cut by Philadelphia earlier that season, which is what made the allegation stick.

How did Leon Lett turn a blocked field goal into a Dolphins win in the 1993 snow game at Texas Stadium?

He slid into the ball, Miami recovered, and Pete Stoyanovich kicked the winner for a 16-14 result.

How many touchdown catches did rookie Randy Moss have against Dallas on Thanksgiving 1998?

He also caught a two-point conversion; every one of his three receptions went for a score.

Which Steelers running back was at the centre of the botched Thanksgiving 1998 coin toss?

Detroit-born 'The Bus' says he called tails; referee Phil Luckett heard heads, and the Lions drove for the winning field goal.

After the 1998 Bettis coin-toss controversy, the NFL ruled a captain's call must be made when?

The league also required at least two officials to be present for the toss.

Which referee awarded the Lions the disputed 1998 Thanksgiving overtime toss on live television?

Luckett maintained Bettis had said 'heads-tails', and the league backed him even as it rewrote the procedure.

Which Green Bay guard's arm did Ndamukong Suh stomp on, earning a suspension, on Thanksgiving 2011?

He first pushed the player's head into the turf three times; the two-game ban cost him $165,294 in wages.

In the 2012 'Butt Fumble', Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran into the backside of which teammate?

Steve Gregory returned it for a touchdown as New England scored three times in 52 seconds on the way to a 49-19 win.

For how many consecutive weeks did the Butt Fumble top ESPN's worst-play voting before retirement?

Brandon Moore did not realise his body had caused the fumble until he saw the replay, and resented it defining his ten-year career.

In 2008, the 0-11 Lions lost 47-10 on Thanksgiving to which 10-1 team?

Detroit went on to finish 0-16, the first winless 16-game season in NFL history.

On which day of the week was the COVID-postponed 2020 Thanksgiving Ravens–Steelers game eventually played?

It moved to Wednesday 2 December, one of several reschedulings that season.

Roughly how many viewers watched the 2025 Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving game, an NFL regular season record?

All three Thanksgiving games that year set regular season viewership records.

Which channel first carried the Thanksgiving prime-time game when it was introduced in 2006?

NBC took the game over in 2012, the same night as the Butt Fumble.

Thanksgiving Day football dates to 1876, when which two colleges began playing on the holiday?

They met in the New York area every Thanksgiving through 1881, and from 1882 the day hosted the collegiate championship game.

How many Thanksgiving Day games did the University of Michigan play between 1885 and 1905?

Thanksgiving was the natural end of the college season long before the pros adopted it.

Against which historically Black college does Alabama State play its Thanksgiving Day Classic?

Officially it is the Turkey Day Classic; Grambling and Southern meet in the Bayou Classic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The Egg Bowl is the rivalry between Ole Miss and which team?

It was a Thanksgiving fixture from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2017 to 2019.

Since which year have Wellesley and Needham played America's oldest public high school football rivalry?

Boston Latin and Boston English have met since 1887, and Massachusetts still treats the Thanksgiving morning game as a ritual.

Texas and Texas A&M played their rivalry on Thanksgiving from 2008 until the series ended in which year?

The Aggies' move to the SEC ended it; the game returned on Thanksgiving weekend in 2024.

The Lions played their Thanksgiving games in which suburban dome from 1975 to 2001?

They were at Tiger Stadium before that and moved to Ford Field downtown in 2002.

The Cowboys left Texas Stadium for their Arlington stadium in which year?

Before Texas Stadium they played at the Cotton Bowl, where the 1966 tradition began.

The NFL franchise that made Thanksgiving its own began life in 1928 in which Ohio town?

The Portsmouth Spartans joined the NFL in 1930 and moved to Detroit amid money troubles in 1934, the same year the Thanksgiving tradition began.

The oldest documented turkey trot, still run every Thanksgiving, dates to 1896 in which city?

Buffalo's race predates the modern Boston Marathon by a year and covers 8 km rather than the usual 5.

What is by far the most common distance for a Thanksgiving turkey trot road race?

Over 90 percent of turkey trots are 5Ks, short enough to finish before the parade ends.

Roughly how many people ran in one of the 936 turkey trots held in the United States in 2024?

That makes Thanksgiving the single biggest running day of the American year.

Which state hosted the most turkey trots in 2024, with 56 separate races?

Warm November weather helps: Florida runners rarely need the gloves that Buffalo's field does.

The Dallas Turkey Trot, which draws more than 25,000 runners a year, covers what unusually long distance?

It started in the 1940s and is one of the few big trots not run over 5K.

Which Olympic marathon medallist set the 2021 record for the fastest run dressed as a turkey?

Seidel had won Olympic bronze in Tokyo just months earlier.

The Skins Game, a Thanksgiving-weekend golf fixture from 1983 to 2008, gave whom the nickname 'Mr. Skins'?

Couples won 77 skins and over $4.4 million in eleven appearances.

Who won the first Skins Game in 1983, beating Nicklaus, Watson and Palmer at Desert Highlands?

The South African took home $170,000 from the made-for-TV event.

The Turkey Night Grand Prix, run on Thanksgiving night in Southern California since 1934, is for what kind of car?

Earl Gilmore founded it at his Los Angeles stadium; only the Indy 500 and Pikes Peak are older American races.

Which NASCAR Cup champion has won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget race four times?

Stewart won it once, in 2000, and Bell has three wins.

The Maui Invitational grew out of tiny Chaminade's 1982 upset of which Ralph Sampson-led team?

Virginia's coach suggested a Hawaii tournament afterward, and the games settled into the Lahaina Civic Center.

The Battle 4 Atlantis college basketball tournament in the Bahamas is played in what kind of room?

Harvard won the first men's edition in 2011, beating UCF 59-49 in the Imperial Arena.

Which Chicago Cardinals star scored all 40 points in a 1929 Thanksgiving rout of the Bears?

His 40 points in one game remain an NFL record that still stands.

Which network was the first to televise NFL Thanksgiving Day games, in 1953?

CBS took over in 1956, and the first colour telecast of an NFL game was the 1965 Thanksgiving match between the Lions and Baltimore Colts.

How many times did the Lions sack Bart Starr in the 1962 'Thanksgiving Day Massacre'?

The 26-14 win was the only defeat the 10-0 Packers suffered all season.

Which AFL team owner lobbied for years to make his club a permanent Thanksgiving host?

His Chiefs hosted Thanksgiving games from 1967 to 1969 and were picked for the first prime-time game in 2006, shortly before his death.

The expansion 1952 Dallas Texans won their only game ever on Thanksgiving at which Ohio venue?

The Bears sent their second string against the winless Texans and lost 27-23.

Which Cowboys cornerback set the NFL record for pick-sixes in a season on Thanksgiving 2023?

His fifth interception return for a touchdown came in a 45-10 rout of the Washington Commanders.

Which Bills kicker hit the walk-off field goal in the 2022 '23 Seconds Game' against Detroit?

Buffalo ran a 21-second field goal drive to win 28-25, an homage to the '13 Seconds' playoff game the year before.

Which network has carried the Thanksgiving prime-time game since 2012?

CBS and Fox alternate the Detroit and Dallas afternoon games by year; the night game had aired on NFL Network from 2006.