{"id":555545,"date":"2025-11-26T10:26:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/555545\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T10:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:26:18","slug":"how-1934-marketing-gamble-made-detroit-lions-thanksgiving-football-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/555545\/","title":{"rendered":"How 1934 marketing gamble made Detroit Lions Thanksgiving football tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2013 The Detroit Lions<\/a> are preparing to face the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field for their annual Thanksgiving Day football game.<\/p>\n

The divisional rivalry matchup will kick off Thursday, Nov. 27, at the new start time of 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Both teams are competing for playoff positioning, making the matchup one of the biggest games on the holiday. <\/p>\n

The Lions seek revenge after a season-opening loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field.<\/p>\n

This game will be the first of three on Thanksgiving, followed by the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens playing the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n

The three-game slate is a newer tradition; in past years, only the Lions and Cowboys hosted Thanksgiving games.<\/p>\n

While the Cowboys\u2019 presence on Thanksgiving was expected, the Lions\u2019 role was less obvious given their historical struggles and lower popularity than Dallas\u2019.<\/p>\n

Before the Lions\u2019 recent resurgence, Detroit was often viewed as an easy opponent, frequently suffering blowout losses on national TV as families got together to give thanks.<\/p>\n

That result raised the question of how the Lions secured the coveted Thanksgiving broadcast slot.<\/p>\n

Annual tradition begins in 1934<\/p>\n

The tradition started in 1934 when owner George A. Richards moved the team to Detroit and scheduled a Thanksgiving Day game to attract fans who favored baseball, then America\u2019s most popular sport.<\/p>\n

Richards, a former radio executive, secured a national radio broadcast for the game, turning it into a major event and creating a tradition that has lasted nearly 100 years.<\/p>\n

He purchased the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans<\/a>, an NFL team founded in 1928, and moved them to Detroit in 1934.<\/p>\n

Detroit was primarily a baseball town, making it challenging for the Lions to gain attention.<\/p>\n

To attract fans in their first season, Richards scheduled a Thanksgiving Day game against divisional rival Chicago Bears, who were 11-0 at the time.<\/p>\n

The Lions, with a 10-1 record and a strong defense, had not allowed a touchdown until their eighth game.<\/p>\n

The game took place at University of Detroit Stadium, which seated 26,000 fans. <\/p>\n

The Lions lost 19-16, but the matchup laid the groundwork for the Thanksgiving tradition.<\/p>\n

Detroit lost the Western Division title the following week to Chicago, 10-7.<\/p>\n

History is repeating itself as the Bears are your leaders of the NFC North Division with an 8-3 record, while the Lions are close behind at 7-4.<\/p>\n

Despite the loss, Richards convinced the league that the Lions showed promise in Detroit, and the team was rewarded when it won its first franchise championship the next year.<\/p>\n

A key game in the championship season was a Thanksgiving Day victory over the Bears, 14-2, clinching the Western Division title.<\/p>\n

That 1935 Thanksgiving win helped cement the tradition, although there was a break from 1939 to 1944. <\/p>\n

Since then, the Lions have been a consistent national presence.<\/p>\n

Detroit went on to win NFL championships in 1952, 1953, and 1957, gaining further national attention.<\/p>\n

Seeking more publicity, Richards partnered with NBC Radio to create a 94-station network broadcasting the Lions\u2019 games.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving football roots in college rivalry<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving football began before the NFL, starting in 1895 with a game between the Michigan Wolverines<\/a> and the University of Chicago Maroons.<\/p>\n

This collegiate rivalry was an annual tradition from 1895 to 1905, mostly played in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Michigan won the inaugural game 12-0, and the winner often claimed the conference championship, similar to Michigan\u2019s rivalry with Ohio State today.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2013 The Detroit Lions are preparing to face the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,71,6,85896,16927,16926,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-555545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-michigan-wolverines","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-porthsouth-spartans","16":"tag-thanksgiving-day","17":"tag-thanksgiving-game","18":"tag-university-of-michigan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115615523570064684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}