Family, food and football are three of the Thanksgiving Day traditions for many families in the U.S., which comes on a day that the country's major stock markets are closed.
A total of six NFL teams are now featured annually on the holiday, with two of the teams playing every year.
Lions and Cowboys Thanksgiving Day Games: Dating back to 1934, the Detroit Lions have played in the annual Thanksgiving Day game. The lone exceptions were the 1939 through 1944 seasons that weren't played due to World War II. The games have become a staple for the National Football League.
The idea for the Thanksgiving Day game was created by former Lions owner G.A. Richards as a way to increase attendance and media hype for the team. Richards purchased the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans and moved them to Detroit prior to the tradition beginning.
The first Thanksgiving Day game was watched by over 26,000 live fans.
The Dallas Cowboys played on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, beating the Cleveland Browns 26-14. The Cowboys first Thanksgiving Day game was attended by 80,259 people. The Cowboys have played a Thanksgiving Day game every year since except 1975 and 1977.
Similar to the Lions, the Cowboys saw the holiday as a way to create more national media attention for the team.
The Lions created the concept, and the game pre-dates the Super Bowl and many of the NFL teams being created, which makes tradition the biggest reason why the Lions and Cowboys play in their respective games annually.
In 2006, the NFL added a primetime Thanksgiving Day game that features two rotating teams.
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Thanksgiving Day Stats: The Lions lost its first Thanksgiving Day game and haven't had success in many of the contests: the franchise holds an all-time 37-44-2 record in Thanksgiving Day games. The Lions have lost six straight Thanksgiving Day games heading into the 2023 contest.
The Cowboys have had better success in their games, holding an all-time record of 32-22-1.
While they don't play every year, two other teams that have been largely featured are the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, which hold all-time Thanksgiving Day records of 20-15-2 and 14-20-2, respectively.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are the only NFL team to never play in a Thanksgiving Day game.
2023 Thanksgiving Day Games: Here's a look at the three 2023 Thanksgiving Day games, how to watch and the betting odds.
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions: 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX, a unit of Fox Corporation FOXFOXA
Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys: 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS, a unit of Paramount Global PARAPARAA
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks: 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, a unit of Comcast Corporation CMCSA
Thanksgiving Day Betting Odds and Trends: Here's a look at the betting odds for the 2023 Thanksgiving Day games and some trends for bettors to know. The betting odds come from DraftKings Inc DKNG and show the moneyline odds in parentheses and the spread.
Packers (+310) at Lions (-395) -7.5
Commanders (+500) at Cowboys (-700) -12.5
49ers (-375) -7.5 at Seahawks (+295)
The three games each feature a favorite by a touchdown or more. Betting on the three favorites in a parlay pays out at odds of -123, turning a $100 bet into a potential profit of $81.41. Betting on the three underdogs in a parlay pays out with odds of +9617 turning a $100 bet into a potential profit of $9,617.
According to Action Network's Evan Abrams, this is the first time the Lions have been favored for its Thanksgiving Day game since 2016. The Lions have not been favored by more than seven points since 1997 according to ESPN. The Lions have also only been a seven-point favorite or more against the Packers two times in the last 40 seasons.
Abrams said the Cowboys are 1-11 against the spread in their last 12 Thanksgiving Day games. The Lions are 8-1 against the spread in their last 11 Thanksgiving Day games according to ESPN.
The Cowboys are 12-0 outright and 9-3 against the spread when they are a double-digit Thanksgiving Day favorite since 1970.
With less data for the nighttime game, the trend is the favorites who are 12-4 against the spread, with the last six games seeing the favorite cover in the night contest.
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