26,000 fans watched the Detroit Lions face the Chicago Bears at
the University of Detroit Stadium. Radio executive George Richards
had purchased the Portsmouth Spartans, moved them to Detroit, and
renamed them the Lions after the 1933 football season.
This was the first National Football League game held on Thanksgiving
Day. It was broadcast on the NBC radio network by 94 stations
to a nationwide audience. Except between 1939 and 1944, the Detroit
Lions game became an annual event. Television broadcasts of the
game began in 1956.
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