In response to Adam Schefter’s report from Sunday that the league will take up at the annual meetings in March the question of whether the Lions should continue to host a Thanksgiving Day game, we’ve tried to do some digging as to the rules for determining this specific aspect of the schedule.
Here’s what we’ve learned.
Scheduling falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the Commissioner’s office. So, in theory, it’s up to the Commissioner to determine who plays on any given Sunday (or, as the case may be, Thursday).
But, as a practical matter, the fact that the Commissioner has complete authority over a certain issue doesn’t mean that he should exercise it imprudently. In the end, he answers to the owners of the 32 member clubs, and if they think he’s abusing his power, they could possibly go Fay Vincent on him. (If you’re too young to know what we’re talking about, Google the guy’s name. And, yeah, there’s a guy named “Fay.”)
When it comes to the Thanksgiving Day schedule, this is clearly an area where the Commish would be wise to tread lightly. The Lions don’t want to lose the game; if the Commissioner would unilaterally take it away from the franchise, he would acquire a motivated and hostile enemy. Moreover, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, one of the most powerful and influential men in the sport, would potentially regard a change in the Turkey Day lineup as a too-close-for-comfort move against his own team’s supposedly permanent spot on the schedule.
So, if it’s going to happen, it needs to be something that originates with one of the owners, and that a sufficient number of other owners ultimately will support.
Several years ago, late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt made a run at introducing a measure requiring the Thanksgiving games to rotate. Hunt’s resolution did not pass. (Since then, the league has added a Thankgiving game in the evening, which rotates. To date, the Chiefs, Falcons, and Eagles have hosted it.)
Surely, the Ford family would respond to any effort to strip their franchise of the annual game by arguing that it should be a rotation for every game or none of them, which would pull the Cowboys onto the Lions’ side of the issue. Whether the other owners would vote to rotate the early game or every game played on Thanksgiving remains to be seen.
For now, though, the only thing that seems to be reasonably clear in this regard is that Commissioner Roger Goodell will not simply invoke his inherent authority over the schedule to take the long-standing Thanksgiving Day home games away from the Lions or the Cowboys. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen as a result of a sufficient consensus among ownership of all of the league’s 32 franchises.
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misterj, a Passionate Fan, on 12/1/08 at 8:33 am
What do you mean? Ford wouldn’t even notice if the Thanksgiving game was taken from the Lions. Unless his son said something about it, of course.
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blackglass3, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 8:34 am
I don’t care who GODell pisses off, I am tired of watching horseshit THXgiving games.
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leonbright, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 8:36 am
Just schedule the worst team on Detroit’s home schedule for that game. At least then, the game will be competitive. Problem solved.
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RobJH, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 8:39 am
If they take it away from the Lions, then it should be taken from the Cowboys too. It really wouldn’t be fair to end the tradition for 1 team and not the other.
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Hollywood Wags, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 8:40 am
“The Lions don’t want to lose the game; if the Commissioner would unilaterally take it away from the franchise, he would acquire a motivated and hostile enemy.”
LOL.
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Devils Advocate, a Passionate Fan, on 12/1/08 at 8:46 am
If the Lions lose the “Bird” Day game than the Cowboys should as well.
Tradition is one thing but in the spirit of “partnership” which is what all the owners throw out there these games should be spread around the league. if tradition was such a big deal we wouldn’t have facemasks or instant replay. lets cut the tradition crap right now. the game has evolved and will continue to be. The league must continue to “improve the product”
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 12/1/08 at 8:46 am
Kinda wish they would rotate those games. playing 3 games in the span of 11 days is a decided disadvantage for any team that has to do it.
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bored_of_seinfeld_jokes, a Passionate Fan, on 12/1/08 at 8:52 am
I’m tired of watching just the Lions and Cowboys on Thanksgiving, regardless of the quality of the games. By the time the evening game comes on, I’m in turkey coma and do not care. Rotate them all!
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kookabura3, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 8:59 am
They should have it taken away until they get a 500 season then they should get it back
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jfiling, a Passionate Fan, on 12/1/08 at 9:00 am
Why put good games on when people are supposed to be spending time with family? The Lions are the perfect background noise team to have play.
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Rutgersfan, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:02 am
Hopefully Goodell is starting to build a consensus to rotate all the games. I’m tired of watching both the Lions and the Cowboys every year. Who cares if Jerry Jones is pissed off. The Cowboys’ star has faded. It would be more beneficial to the league to showcase other teams.
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chrisgags, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:11 am
I would prefer they not rotate it. The fans in Dallas and Detroit have spent 3 or 4 generations going to games on Thanksgiving so they are used to it. Season ticket holders in other cities already have their own traditions that would be interrupted with a rotating game. For the fans watching at home, rotation sounds great, but for those people that are season ticket holders, the vast majority do not want to host a Thanksgiving game. I live in Philly and people were giving away their tickets to the game. Someone will always go to the games, but the people that are season ticket holders shouldn’t be abused in this situation.
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Pastabelly, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 9:20 am
They should rotate the early game between the Cowboys and Lions. That way, each could host it every other year and other franchises could host the 4:00 pm game. As much as I despise the NY teams, I wouldn’t mind seeing those two franchises get the other slot on a rotating basis. Anything is better than the current setup. It (keeping a game in Detroit) would be like ABC being forced to show the freaking Clippers on Christmas.
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ShootahCowboy, a Passionate Fan, on 12/1/08 at 9:25 am
“Hopefully Goodell is starting to build a consensus to rotate all the games. I’m tired of watching both the Lions and the Cowboys every year. Who cares if Jerry Jones is pissed off. The Cowboys’ star has faded. It would be more beneficial to the league to showcase other teams.”
Are you kidding? Do you even watch football? You may be a “Rutgersfan” but you were obviously not educated there.
Since Jerry Jones has been with the Cowboys, regardless of their record, the Cowboys have always been in the news. While unfortunately some of the news has been negative, they’ve still been there.
We have an exciting team with a ton of talent ready to make a playoff run and the star has faded?
Give me a break…
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Smush Rodrigez, a Rookie, on 12/1/08 at 9:26 am
If the league really wanted to do something - they should have fired Matt Millen FOR the lions years ago…. Or at every draft when they sent up a WR for the pick - ignore it and use Mel Kiper’s pick.
I will say this again. If Detroit looses this game, so should Dallas.
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bandit4454, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:27 am
Who even cares what game is playing? I love football but on average I probably spend less time watching football on Thanksgiving than I do on your average Sunday. Save the good games for Sunday, save the Turkeys, I mean Lions, for Thanksgiving.
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teddybayer, a Water Boy, on 12/1/08 at 9:33 am
There’s a big difference between Dallas and Detroit: Dallas is competitive, Detroit
is irrelevant. It’s a no-brainer. Pull the plug! Pull the team, for that matter. Take
us all out of our collective misery.
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salsaTV, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:35 am
Why is this such a big deal? Just put the Lions game on at night on NLFN where few people can see it.
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mastodon, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:35 am
When the league first offered up the idea of thanksgiving day games back in the day, only two teams stepped forward. Lions and Cowboys. The other franchises wanted nothing to do with it. The Cowboys are the biggest draws in pro football and my guess is the league loves having its marquee franchise playing that day. And like it has been noted, they can’t strip the Lions of their game and not take it from the Cowboys also. Don’t hold your breath.
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 12/1/08 at 9:38 am
Already made my feelings on the subject known, but I’d like to hear the logic behind the “If the Lions lose the Thanksgiving Day game the Cowboys should as well” argument. The Cowboys are consistent ratings performers and don’t spend an inordinant amount of time sucking. They’ve never had more than 5 losing seasons in a row and the last time they had 5 in a row was ‘86-’90. The only other time was their first 5 seasons from ‘60-’64. For a little perspective, the Lions havent had more than 3 winning seasons in a row since the early 70’s.
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jmorand47, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:39 am
First off, I’d like to say that I am all for tradition.
Watching the Lions and Cowboys on Thanksgiving each year
is as part of Thanksgiving as family. However, with that
being said, the games this past Thanksgiving were the
worst that I’ve ever been a part of. I would not be opposed
to seeing new teams, (ie, dropping both the Lions and the
‘boys), on Thanksgiving next year or the years to follow.
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DrBubbaCool, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 9:40 am
To showcase the NFL, the Saints played a home game in London. Yet when a majority of the country might be inclined to watch the “product” the NFL gives its audience The Lions. That’s marketing for you: let’s attract new fans by replying on a tradition that will bore them to death–as they eat turkey. Have the Cowboys and Lions play each other in London.
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k-new, a Head Coach, on 12/1/08 at 9:46 am
If the NFL wants to get ppl to watch games on Thanksgiving, they need to try to do a better job with the schedule. Now that being said I realize that it is not always possible to prognosticate which teams will be any good, from one year to the next. However, the LIONS are consistantly bad. Not only that, I would think the league would want to spread the wealth, so to speak.
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Bill In DC, a Head Coach, on 12/1/08 at 9:52 am
It isn’t a ‘tradition’. When the league first wanted to do Thanksgiving games NOBODY wanted to play them. Dallas’ ‘Tex’ Schram made a deal with the league that Dallas would play the game, but only if they played it every year and hosted the game. I don’t see how the league can simply renege on that deal because the Lions suck.
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bigblue59, a Head Coach, on 12/1/08 at 9:56 am
Vox
The cowpukes suck that is a good reason to take the game away from them
The best teams should play would have been a great day for a Eli Paton Show down not a Jessica game
The cowpukes will be home for new years and should be home on Thanksgiving as well
As for the Lions they are like the other products ford makes Found on Road Dead
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
griblets, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 10:06 am
How about a “king of the mountain” approach? If the host wins, it gets to host again next year. If the host loses, the team that beats the host gets to host next year.
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RedWingNut, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 10:33 am
‘It isn’t a ‘tradition’. When the league first wanted to do Thanksgiving games NOBODY wanted to play them. Dallas’ ‘Tex’ Schram made a deal with the league that Dallas would play the game, but only if they played it every year and hosted the game. I don’t see how the league can simply renege on that deal because the Lions suck.’
You could use a history lesson at the very least.
‘The Lions have hosted a game each year since 1934 (excluding the years 1939-1944), and the Cowboys have hosted a game each year since 1966 (excluding 1975 and 1977 when the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a game instead).’
Detroit was playing the Turkey game 30+ years before Dallas. Sorry but Detroit was the side that broached the idea to the league in an attempt to drive increased attendance.
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 12/1/08 at 10:36 am
bigblue59, are there any adults in your hovel that might like to comment? In other words: STFU, bitch.
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Vox Veritas, a Hall of Famer, on 12/1/08 at 10:51 am
F O R D = Found On Road Dead? That’s hilarious! No actually, that joke’s probably older than you are, kid. Here’s a new one for you.
G - Golly
I - It’s
A - Another
N - New York
T - Turd
S - Sighting
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nospam, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 10:53 am
Nice backpeddle.
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edgeofepic, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 10:55 am
I like the idea of putting the Lions game on the NFL Network at night. It penalizes the Lions for sucking and it would motivate the NFL to make it’s own network more accessible to fans. It would certainly reduce the hatemail that must roll into the NFL Network following important games that are otherwise unavailable to fans.
Or how about simply taking the Thanksgiving game away from the Lions and giving them the pro-bowl (remembering that there is consideration to moving the pro-bowl to the off week between the Conference championships and the Super Bowl.) Detroit is pretty much central for all players and would make travel easier.
Another idea for rotation is to use the previous seasons playoff seeding to determine Turkey Day games. In recent years the NFL has had the Super Bowl champion open the season by squaring off against a playoff team from the same conference. Most of the time fans think the Conference championships are better than the super bowl, so why not try to select some sort of playoff rematches for the Thanksgiving games. Then it’s at least rotating and it certainly rewards teams that excel.
Another option is to have Detroit play the best NCAA squad or Canadian Football League team. I bet the CFL would welcome the spotlight and NFL fans would watch the game for it’s oddity value — even though it would still be considered watching the Lions.
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BluVayner, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 11:00 am
Detroit and Dallas have a long tradition of playing football on Thanksgiving. That is what people do on that day, because that is what they have always done. Trying to sell that idea in another market is not as easy as simply scheduling the game.
I’ll let you be the one to explain to my wife that I won’t be attending Thanksgiving dinner with her family, because I’ll be in Foxboro for the day. The same goes for 70,000 other people, as well as a couple of thousand stadium workers.
Catching a high school football game on Thanksgiving morning is a holiday tradition around here. Spending the day at a Pats game is not. People in most cities would not be in favor of scheduling a game on Thanksgiving.
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Pea Tear Griffin, a Hall of Famer, on 12/1/08 at 11:37 am
Fay Vincent?
I thought you were above baseball references Florio…
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SpartaChris, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 11:54 am
>>edgeofepic says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:55 am
I like the idea of putting the Lions game on the NFL Network at night. It penalizes the Lions for sucking and it would motivate the NFL to make it’s own network more accessible to fans. It would certainly reduce the hatemail that must roll into the NFL Network following important games that are otherwise unavailable to fans.<<
The games aren’t “unavailable to fans.” You do have the option of changing service providers, so they aren’t preventing you from getting their network. It’s not the NFL’s fault you opt not to switch to a provider that offers NFLN.
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NonYahooHotmailAcct, a Division Champ, on 12/1/08 at 12:07 pm
… yea, because the owners don’t already have 312 reasons to get rid of Goodell…
Jerruh would vote KEEP though. So would anybody who likes flag football.
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edgeofepic, a Cheerleader, on 12/1/08 at 12:21 pm
SpartaChris-
I have cable with NFL Network in addition to Directv’s NFL Ticket. But there are a lot of folks who don’t get NFL Network b/c they may have only one local cable provider or live in a building where they can’t get Directv (both have happened to me.) So what happens when someone lives in a situation where they can’t get Directv? It’s what I call, “unavailable to fans.”
I’ll take it one step further. A few weeks back I was traveling on a Thursday when the Pats were playing the JETS on a Thursday night. The hotel I was staying at didn’t have NFL Network. Certainly I’d agree that’s likely not the NFL Network’s fault - I’ll concede that point. Nonetheless, NFL Network is a far cry from CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central and countless other cable networks that are pretty much standard to any cable package. When I last lived in Massachusetts the NFL Network was on a lousy sports package that cost an additional $12 per month. Did I pay it? Yes, without a second of hesitation. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of people who can’t afford to “upgrade” to NFL Network through cable, who simply don’t have the option through their cable system, don’t have another cable system to switch too, or can’t get Directv due to their physical living arrangements (some apartments, condos, etc.)
Hopefully that clears up what I meant. Thanks for letting me know it’s not the NFL’s fault. That certainly helps.
And by the way, when I was at that hotel in Chicago I ended up listening to the game on the clockradio b/c I couldn’t even watch the game via the free online streaming simulcast. Too many people were trying to watch the game online so apparently NFL Network servers were already at peak capacity.
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