The Detroit Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1934, a tradition that will continue every year with the early afternoon game on the holiday. The Lions have also played on Christmas Day in the past, but haven’t been asked to play on Thanksgiving and Christmas since 1999.
That may change in 2025, as Lions team president Rod Wood hinted the league may schedule Detroit on Christmas this year. There are also three games on Christmas with the holiday being on a Thursday, up from the doubleheader that took place last year.
“I wish there was (an exemption for playing on Christmas),” Wood said at the NFL owners meetings, via MLive.com. “I know we’re a big TV draw, so I wouldn’t rule out that they might ask us to do it. I do think, for our fans, asking them to give up Thanksgiving and Christmas to come to a game is a big ask, so I’ve tried to avoid it, but we’ll see what schedule comes out.”
The Lions play every year on Thanksgiving, but there is no exception for them nor the Dallas Cowboys to play on Christmas. The two teams that hold the tradition of playing on the Thanksgiving Day calendar have played on Christmas before, as the Lions have played twice (1994, 1999) while the Cowboys have played four times (1995, 2000, 2006, 2010) since the NFL added Christmas games to the regular-season slate.
Why are the Lions being considered for Christmas this year? Detroit played in the No. 1-rated games for CBS, NBC and Amazon last season — so the Lions are a hit among NFL viewers. The Lions are also good, as they were the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season with a 15-2 record.
The good teams in the league get more nationally televised games, and the Lions are no different. Any time the league can showcase the Lions in 2025 against a quality opponent, they’re going to do so.
What makes the Lions playing on Christmas this year different from previous years they played on the holiday? Playing on a short week makes the Christmas game difficult (Christmas is on a Thursday in 2025). When the Lions played on Christmas in 1994, the holiday fell on a Sunday. In 1999, Christmas was on a Saturday.
There’s enough time to prepare bodies to get right when Christmas falls on a weekend. The Lions already have a short week when they play on Thanksgiving, but some teams do play twice a year on Thursdays with the “Thursday Night Football” deal. If they played on Christmas, that’s two short weeks in a season — while giving up a holiday in the process.
The Lions don’t have an exemption with playing on a holiday, which is where the problem lies. The NFL could compensate the teams on Christmas by having them play a Saturday tripleheader to give them five rest days (similar to how the league scheduled the Christmas games when the holiday was on a Wednesday last year).
The NFL schedule comes out in May, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Lions end up with two holiday games.
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