Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on and around the holiday. The NFL's Thanksgiving Day games have traditionally included one game hosted by the Detroit Lions since 1934, and one game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys since 1966 (with two exceptions in 1975 and 1977). Since 2006, a third prime time game has also been played on Thanksgiving. Unlike the afternoon games, this game has no fixed teams.
In 2022, the NFL branded the Thanksgiving Day games as the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration, to honor head coach and broadcaster John Madden, who had died in December 2021.[1]
In 2023, the league added a Black Friday game to complement the three Thanksgiving games. Similar to the third Thanksgiving game, this additional game does not have any fixed opponents.