The significance of the NFL’s Thanksgiving fixtures

Thanksgiving is the biggest date in the NFL regular season. With three games on Thursday 26 November and the NFL odds for each one already available, here’s why the holiday slate matters more than any other week.

A tradition that began in 1934

The Detroit Lions played their first Thanksgiving game in 1934 and lost 19-16 to the Chicago Bears. Apart from a six-year break between 1939 and 1944 during the Second World War, Detroit has hosted a game on the holiday every year since.

The Dallas Cowboys joined in 1966 and beat the Cleveland Browns 26-14 at the Cotton Bowl. They’ve hosted every year since, except in 1975 and 1977, when the St. Louis Cardinals took the slot.

That gives both teams a guaranteed national TV slot every November, whatever their form. It’s also why both play at home this year, as they do every year.

How the schedule has grown

For decades, Thanksgiving meant two games. The NFL added a third, primetime game in 2006, which brings a different set of teams into the holiday each season.

In 2023 the league added a game on Black Friday, shown on Prime Video. This season it goes further with its first Thanksgiving Eve game, so the week now has five games across three days.

The most-watched game of the regular season

The audience figures explain why the NFL keeps adding to the week. The Kansas City Chiefs’ 31-28 defeat to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving 2025 averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS. That made it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.

The previous record was 42.06 million, for the Cowboys against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving 2022. The new figure was about 36% higher, partly because Nielsen now measures more digital and out-of-home viewing. Earlier the same day, the Green Bay Packers’ win over the Lions drew 47.7 million viewers on Fox.

The 2026 Thanksgiving fixtures

Wednesday 25 November

• Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Rams – 1am UK (Thursday), Netflix

Thursday 26 November

• Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions – 6pm UK, CBS

• Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys – 9:30pm UK, Fox

• Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills – 1:20am UK (Friday), NBC and Peacock

Friday 27 November

• Denver Broncos at Pittsburgh Steelers – 8pm UK, Prime Video

Both early Thursday games are divisional matchups. Bears v Lions is an NFC North fixture between the two teams who played the first Thanksgiving game in 1934. Eagles v Cowboys is one of the NFC East’s longest-running rivalries.

The night game brings the Chiefs to Buffalo’s new stadium. The two teams have met four times in the playoffs since the 2020 season, and Kansas City won all four.

Why it matters for betting

Thanksgiving games come four days after the Sunday round, so players have less time to recover and coaches less time to prepare. Injury news and team news need closer attention than usual.

The visiting teams also have to travel on that short week. The Lions and Cowboys don’t, because they always play at home. In the two early games, the visitors are division rivals who play these hosts twice a season, so both sides already know each other well.

Late-season standings also play a part. By late November the playoff picture is starting to take shape, so a Thanksgiving result can affect division races and seeding, and that shows in the markets.

A fixed date with growing stakes

Thanksgiving football started in Detroit more than 90 years ago. It now runs from Wednesday night to Friday afternoon and draws the largest regular-season audiences the NFL has recorded. With divisional games on Thursday afternoon and Chiefs v Bills in primetime, the 2026 slate has five games that could matter for the playoff picture.