NFL fans have looked forward to Thanksgiving Day football as much as they look forward to the traditional turkey dinner every year since 1934.

That year, nearly a century ago, the Detroit Lions first played on Thanksgiving Thursdays, except between 1939 and 1944, during World War II, where there was a pause on the action.

The tradition grew in 1966 when the Dallas Cowboys were added to play a game on that day, and since 2006 the NFL added one more game, with no definitive host and it has been placed in the prime time broadcast slot.

How did NFL games on Thanksgiving Day come to be?

Dallas and Detroit always play at home on Thanksgiving.

The Lions were the first to host games every year. In 1934, Lions owner G.A. Richards scheduled a Christmas showdown between the Lions and the Chicago Bears.

Earlier that year, Richards had purchased the Portsmouth Spartans football team and moved it from Ohio to the Motor City, renaming it the Detroit Lions.

The Bears, back-to-back defending champions, defeated the Lions 19-16 in front of 26,000 people at the University of Detroit Stadium on November 29, 1934.

The Lions have an all-time record of 37-45-2 in the annual Christmas Classic.

Thirty-two years later, the Cowboys joined as a home team playing for the first time in 1966, when they defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-14 in the Cotton Bowl.

General manager Tex Schramm wanted more national publicity for the Cowboys, and thought the game on Thanksgiving Thursday made a lot of sense.

However, the NFL was a little concerned and guaranteed the Cowboys a certain amount of box office revenue. A crowd of 80,259 showed up and a tradition was born. The Cowboys have played every Thanksgiving Day since then, except in 1975 and 1977.

In both years, then NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle tried to place the St. Louis Cardinals and head coach Don Coryell, but both games were lost, and Rozelle gave Dallas the game back.

The Cowboys have a record of 33-22-1.

What does a Thanksgiving Day game mean to the players?

Cowboys guard Zack Martin is used to playing on Monday and Sunday nights, but there’s something different about playing on Thanksgiving.

Martin grew up in Indianapolis and starred at Notre Dame before the Cowboys selected him in the first round in 2014, and he always watched the Lions play the first game and the Cowboys play later during the holidays.

“It might be different to the outside world, but for us I think it’s different because it’s a tradition for the Cowboys to play on Thanksgiving,” Martin told ESPN.

“I didn’t grow up a Cowboys fan, but I always knew they played on Thanksgiving, so to come out here and be a part of that is great.

“For me, [the best part of the game] is just being able to invite my family and everybody over for Thanksgiving.

Normally teams would miss it because they practice during the week, but we get to play and then spend some time with family and friends.”