The history behind NFL games being played on Thanksgiving Day

24 days ago

NPR

The NFL's Detroit Lions have hosted a home game almost every Thanksgiving since 1934. NPR's Rob Schmitz talks to sportswriter Bill Morris about how the tradition was born.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

It is Thanksgiving, and for football fans, that means watching the Detroit Lions. The team has played on Thanksgiving nearly every year since 1934. That year, the Lions lost to the Chicago Bears 19-16. So it is fitting that today, 90 years later, the Lions will take on the Bears once again. Joining us to talk about how this Thanksgiving tradition was born is Bill Morris, author of "The Lions Finally Roar: The Ford Family, The Detroit Lions, And The Road To Redemption In The NFL." Bill Morris, welcome to the program.

BILL MORRIS: Happy Thanksgiving, Rob.

SCHMITZ: Happy Thanksgiving to you. And, you know, football, Thanksgiving for many of us is like turkey and stuffing. How far back does this tradition go?

MORRIS: Well, in Detroit, as you mentioned, it started in 1934. But back in the 19th century, when football was first invented, college teams - Yale and Princeton - played on Thanksgiving Days. It wasn't a tradition like it is now. But, you know, it was a holiday and people were off work. And people figured, well, we'll play a football game and people will come out and see it. And, indeed, they did. And there were some professional games played before 1934 on Thanksgiving Day. But it was the Lions who really cemented it as a perennial event every Thanksgiving Day, beginning in 1934, the year the team moved to Detroit from Portsmouth, Ohio.

SCHMITZ: Wow. And so why did - how did this come about? Why Detroit?

MORRIS: Well, when the Lions moved to Detroit, they were struggling in Ohio. You know, it was the Depression, they were not drawing in a lot of fans, they were playing in a little stadium on the Ohio River in Portsmouth, Ohio. So a guy named George Richards, who owned WJR Radio in Detroit, paid a little under $8,000 for the team, brought them to Detroit and...

SCHMITZ: (Laughter) Oh, my gosh.

MORRIS: Yeah, I know.

SCHMITZ: Wait a second. $8,000?

MORRIS: A lot of money back then. You know, this was a struggling team that was losing money...

SCHMITZ: Oh, my gosh.

MORRIS: ...So he had to. But, you know, the Detroit Tigers baseball team was very entrenched.

SCHMITZ: Sure.

MORRIS: And so he realized he needed a gimmick to attract fans to this newfangled thing called pro football. Well, he had the brilliant idea he could put it on WJR. And WJR was an NBC affiliate, and he could get it broadcast nationwide on 94 stations.

SCHMITZ: (Laughter).

MORRIS: So it became a media event in 1934. It was a huge success. The game was sold out. Twenty-six thousand fans showed up at the University of Detroit football stadium. They had to turn fans away. It was a national event. You know, all over the country, people are listening to their radios. And the Lions are playing the mighty Chicago Bears in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. So that was the beginning of a tradition that's still going 90 years later.

SCHMITZ: Eight thousand dollars for a football team. What did they pay their quarterback? (Laughter) I'm just curious.

MORRIS: You know, a friend of mine talked to one of the guys on that team, and he made $4,000 that year. And that was a lot of money. I mean, that was top dollar for a player back then, so...

SCHMITZ: Wait. He made half of what the team was worth (laughter)?

MORRIS: Exactly. I mean, he got the - it was a fire sale deal when he brought the team to town...

SCHMITZ: Amazing.

MORRIS: ...When George Richards brought the team in there.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHMITZ: So, OK, Bill, I'm going to apologize in advance to Lions fans. I am a Vikings fan. And one of my team's most memorable wins came on Thanksgiving Day in 1998 over the Cowboys, back in the days of Randy Moss. What are some of the most memorable Thanksgiving football games that stand out in your mind?

MORRIS: Well, there's one, Rob, that is still imprinted on my eyeballs. I was 10 years old - and I'm going to date myself here - but 1962.

SCHMITZ: OK.

MORRIS: The mighty Packers, undefeated, came to Detroit to play at Tiger Stadium. I was in the stands that day. The Lions just absolutely demolished the Packers and went out to a 26-0 lead and ended up winning 26-14. It was a much more lopsided game than that. And that game, to this day, people of a certain age in Detroit still refer to it as the Thanksgiving Day Massacre. And it was the only loss the Packers had that year. They won the championship. The Lions, as usual, finished second. But that was a memorable Thanksgiving Day. People in Detroit are still talking about that one (laughter), believe me.

SCHMITZ: The Thanksgiving Day Massacre (laughter).

MORRIS: Yeah, 1962. Everybody remembers that one.

SCHMITZ: So these days, there are three football games played on Thanksgiving, including the annual home game for the Lions and an annual home game for the Dallas Cowboys. When those other games were added, did this sort of threaten the Lions' role in this tradition?

MORRIS: Well, I don't think so. The Lions still have a hugely solid fan base. But even in their lean years, the fans in Detroit were always very dedicated to the Lions. And the Lions, as long as they had that home game every Thanksgiving, it didn't really matter to them or, I don't think, the management or the ownership of the team, and certainly not to the fans, if Dallas had a game, say, or whatever. Dallas started playing in the '60s. And then I believe it was in '78 they got a permanent deal to always host a Thanksgiving Day game. And the Lions always kicked off first, and then the Cowboys. And then finally, in 2006, they added a third game. You know, the NFL is never shy about a chance to make money, so they (laughter)...

SCHMITZ: Of course not.

MORRIS: They jumped on a third one. If two is good, three is probably better, so they have a third game now (laughter). But the Lions are still locked into that home game every Thanksgiving. And there was talk a few years ago when the Lions were really in the dumps, back in 2008 - they went 0-16, the first team to ever lose all 16 games. And the league started talking about possibly taking the game away from Detroit because they were such a bad TV draw. But the powers that be in Detroit, the Ford family among them, convinced the owners to leave it alone and to let the Lions continue to play on Thanksgiving Day.

SCHMITZ: So, Bill, the Lions are looking very good this year. But as I'm sure you know, despite being one of the oldest NFL teams, they have never been to a Super Bowl. Is this going to be their year?

MORRIS: Well, a lot of people are starting to think so. You know, they've got this wonderful record. They've got a powerful team. They've had a bunch of injuries, and they still just seem to keep chugging along. In fact, when I started writing the book, I was thinking I was writing a story about futility year after year that the Detroit Lions have experienced.

(LAUGHTER)

MORRIS: And while I'm writing the book, I had to change my tune because, suddenly, they got good while I was writing the book (laughter). You know, my original title had been "Natural-Born Losers." And once they started winning, I had to come up with a new title. And that's how I wound up with "The Lions Finally Roar." And they are indeed roaring, and a lot of people think they're going to go to the Super Bowl this year. I'd hate to predict it because, you know, Detroit fans are used to getting their hopes up and then getting knocked down. So I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but they do look awfully good right now.

SCHMITZ: Well, Bill, as a Minnesota Vikings fan, I can definitely relate.

MORRIS: (Laughter).

SCHMITZ: That is Bill Morris. His latest book is "The Lions Finally Roar: The Ford Family, The Detroit Lions, And The Road To Redemption In The NFL." Bill, thank you so much for joining us.

MORRIS: Thank you, Rob.

(SOUNDBITE OF SAM SPENCE'S "CLASSIC BATTLE")

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