The 1934 Promotion That Turned the Lions Into a Holiday Habit

One of the best things about Thanksgiving besides the amazing food of course is watching the Detroit Lions play on national TV.

Get our free mobile app

Back in the day, it was almost a guarantee that you would watch them get spanked, but in recent years, under coach Campbell, it's been a different story and actually exciting to watch.

When I was younger, I didn't know that the Lions were one of only a few teams that played a game on Thanksgiving.

Read More: Must-See: Jake Bates Delivers Iconic Michael Scott Quote

I just assumed every team played on that day.

After finding that most other teams didn't play, I wanted to know why the Detroit Lions always did.

 A Marketing Idea From 1934

To find out the answer we have to go all the way back to 1934 when the now Detroit Lions were called the Portsmouth Spartans and were moved to Detroit by team owner George Richards.

He was trying to think of ways to promote his team and get people to become fans.

George pitched NBC the idea of airing the Lions football game on national TV.

They liked the idea and aired it on 94 stations across the country.

The first Thanksgiving match-up was against NFC rival the Chicago Bears.

The Bears would go on to win that first game 19-16.

While the Lions lost the game it was a huge success for George because he was able to sell out all 26,000 seats for the game.

So this Thanksgiving when you gather around the TV and cheer on the Lions as they take on the Green Bay Packers you can tell your friends and family the reason why the Lions play every Thanksgiving.