the cowboys started playing on thanksgiving day in 1978.
when did the cowboys start playing on thanksgiving day?
1978
in 1966, the dallas cowboys, who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting thanksgiving games. it is widely rumored that the cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). this is only partly true; dallas had in fact decided to host games on thanksgiving by their own decision because there was nothing else to do or watch on that day. in 1975 and 1977, at the behest of then-commissioner pete rozelle, the st. louis cardinals replaced dallas as a host team (dallas then hosted st. louis in 1976). although the cardinals, at the time known as the "cardiac cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, they were nowhere near as popular nationwide as the cowboys, who were regular super bowl contenders during this era. this, combined with st. louis's consistently weak attendance, a series of ugly cardinals losses in the three-game stretch, and opposition from the kirkwood–webster groves turkey day game (a local high school football contest) led to dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978; it was then, after rozelle asked dallas to resume hosting thanksgiving games, that the cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the cowboys a spot on thanksgiving day forever.
nfl on thanksgiving day
in 2004, the cowboys resurrected their original 1960–1963 uniform on thanksgiving day. this uniform became the team's alternate or "third jersey" and was usually worn at least once a year, primarily thanksgiving day. two exceptions were when the cowboys wore their normal white uniforms on thanksgiving in 2007 and 2008. while the team didn't wear the throwback uniform exactly on thanksgiving day in those two years, dallas wore them on a date around thanksgiving for those two years. in 2007 dallas wore the throwback uniform on november 29, 2007 against the green bay packers. in 2008 dallas wore the throwback uniform on november 23, 2008 against the san francisco 49ers. the team went back to wearing this uniform at home on thanksgiving day in 2009 while their opponent was the oakland raiders who wore their afl legacy weekend throwbacks. dallas wore this alternate uniform on october 11, 2009 as part of one of the nfl's afl legacy weekends when they traveled to kansas city to play the chiefs who were sporting their afl dallas texans' uniforms. this created a rare game in which neither team wore a white jersey and the first time the cowboys wore the alternative uniform as a visiting team. the 1960–1963 uniform may also be used on other special occasion. other instances include the 2005 monday night game against the washington redskins when the team inducted troy aikman, emmitt smith, and michael irving into the cowboys ring of honor, and the 2006 christmas day game against the philadelphia eagles.
dallas cowboys