Most NFL fans know that the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions get to play home games on American Thanksgiving every year, but very few know that this tradition dates as far back as 1934 for the Lions and 1966 for Cowboys. And even fewer know how these teams secured this annual spot in the NFL schedule.

The Lions’ Thanksgiving tradition began after Detroit radio executive George A. Richards purchased the Portsmouth Spartans and moved them to “The Motor City”. Richards saw that his Lions took a back seat to the baseball Tigers in the sports pages, so he aimed to attract some attention to his team by scheduling a game on Thanksgiving Day.

The plan worked, as the team sold out all 26,000 seats in University of Detroit Stadium in a 19-16 loss to the Chicago Bears. The Thanksgiving tradition took permanent hold in Detroit in 1945 and they haven’t missed a “turkey day” since.

As for the Cowboys, they began their annual Thanksgiving hosting duties in 1966 when then-general manager Tex Schramm saw the value in having a guaranteed nationally broadcast game every season on a day when so many people were home and likely to watch “America’s Team” on television. It’s widely believed that shrewd Schramm was one of the only GMs at the time to see the value in playing on this day – and now that they haven’t missed a Thankgiving game since 1977, it’s safe to say that the Cowboys are not about to give up this tradition now that NFL television deals are in the billions of dollars.