Perhaps you’re old enough to remember when you could enjoy your Thanksgiving meal while the Detroit Lions were getting pummeled and then comfortably watch the Dallas Cowboys put on a show while you washed down your pumpkin pie with eggnog.
That’s so 2005 − especially since the Joey Harrington-led Lions were terrible then, and we maybe didn’t fully grasp that eggnog is liquid death.
As for 2026? Well, the NFL might stage a game on Thanksgiving Eve, a person familiar with the league’s thinking confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person was granted anonymity because this year’s schedule has yet to be finalized.
But if the move materializes, it would create a five-game slate around Turkey Day. Since 2006, the league has had a tripleheader on Thanksgiving, adding a prime-time slot after the Lions and Cowboys games. In 2023, Amazon Prime began streaming a Black Friday matchup.
Rumors of adding an 18th game to the regular season have abounded for years, though Commissioner Roger Goodell tamped down that speculation before Super Bowl 60, when representatives from the NFL Players Association stated the union’s members had ‘no appetite’ to tack on another week to a schedule that already encompasses four months, to say nothing of the toll training camp and the playoffs exact.
Yet the NFL has found ways to expand its media partnerships by creating unique broadcast windows like Black Friday along with its growing footprint of international games − including exotic locales in Week 1, where the league has parked Friday night games in South America and Australia recently. A game on Thanksgiving Eve, a typically festive night also known as ‘Drinksgiving,’ could be another opportunity to sell a one-off broadcast package similar to the one created recently on Christmas for Netflix.
The NFL schedule is typically revealed in May.
