WTAJ — On the third Thursday of every November, Americans travel far and wide to spend time with their families while enjoying turkey.

While (overeating) turkey on the annual holiday is a recurring theme, so is football as the NFL schedules three games each season on Turkey Day.

Whether you are into sports or not, you might notice that each year the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions are playing. So why do these two teams always play on Thanksgiving?

The tradition is entering its 89th year for the Lions, who started playing on Turkey Day in 1934. Then owner George A Richards wanted to attract more fans, according to CBS Sports.

Richards also owned an NBC-affiliated radio station and he worked out a contract to get the game broadcasted on 94 different stations. The Lions actually had to turn away fans because the stadium was so packed!

Detroit didn’t invent football on Thanksgiving though. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first Thanksgiving NFL football games were held on Nov. 25, 1920.

The Lions have played on Thanksgiving every year since 1934 except between 1939-1944 because of World War II.

How ’bout them Cowboys though? Their tradition began more recently but still has a lot of history.

In 1966 then general manager Tex Schramm signed up to play Thanksgiving to get more national publicity for the team. This brought in a record-shattering crowd.

The Cowboys have only missed out on two Thanksgiving games since then as the league awarded the St. Lous Cardinals the game in 1975 and 1977.

Both teams have kept the tradition going and it doesn’t seem like there will be a change any time soon.

One change that did happen though is in 2006, when the NFL added a third primetime game to their slate.

Detroit is 37-44-2 all-time on Thanksgiving while Dallas is 32-22-1 all-time, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The best records belong to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans who are 2-0 on holiday.

The Cleveland Browns hold the worst win percentage, losing in all three of their Turkey Day appearances.

Oddly enough, every team has played on Thanksgiving except one — the Jacksonville Jaguars.

This season’s game will feature the Green Bay Packers visiting the Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. Followed by the Washington Commanders taking on the Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. on WTAJ. The night will end with the San Francisco 49ers taking on the Seattle Seahawks at 8:20 p.m.