for 2 years in the mid 70s. Ratings were way down.
Their games are usually turkeys.
I think the missing element here might also be that Dallas and Detroit were willing to play the game in the early days of TV when others were not. So it helped build the NFL’s TV brand. So there might be ah historic loyalty aspect here.
I don’t care if the NFL doesn’t allow the Lions to ever play again on Monday Night Football, on Sunday Night Football or in the playoffs (the latter already basically self imposed). The NFL could ban them from being on TV for the other 15 weeks of the year. But the Lions better be playing at home and on TV every Thanksgiving. It been a tradition since 1934. Ownership has been poor, but Bill Ford’s statement that Ford would pull all Ford advertisements with the NFL if the Lions Thanksgiving Day game ceased was great.
Because no one outside of Detroit cares if the Lions play on Thanksgiving or not. And I’m sure the NFL could survive without Ford advertising dollars, though I doubt they’d have to. No doubt the Ford board of directors would be perfectly fine with not advertising during all NFL games because of the Lions getting booted from Thanksgiving day. That’d make a lot of financial sense, and certainly send a strong message over such an injustice.
I married into a Lions family. It's a big deal. The Thanksgiving meal is scheduled around the Lions game.
From Pro Football Focus:
and a first round playoff home game. They are also on pace to finish with 10 wins, over the next 2 seasons.