For more than four decades, the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day schedule has followed a consistent format, with the Detroit Lions hosting the early afternoon game at 12:30 p.m. ET. However, in a historic shift this 2025 season, the league is breaking that long-standing tradition by pushing the kickoff time back by 30 minutes. This means the Lions’ marquee Thanksgiving matchup against their fierce NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers, will now begin at 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox, marking the first time in 43 years that the Lions’ game has deviated from the customary 12:30 p.m. start.
This subtle but significant change aligns the Thanksgiving schedule more closely with the NFL’s “traditional” Sunday game windows, offering greater consistency across the league’s weekly broadcasts. The move also caters better to fans across different time zones — for instance, fans on the West Coast will now see the Lions-Packers game start at 10 a.m. PT instead of the earlier 9:30 a.m. kickoff that had become customary.
The tradition of the Lions playing on Thanksgiving dates back to 1934, solidifying Detroit’s role as a perennial host of the holiday football festivities. For 42 consecutive years prior to this season, they had kicked off precisely at 12:30 p.m. ET, a tradition only briefly interrupted once in 1982 during a strike-shortened season when the Lions hosted the New York Giants at noon ET. Since 1983, the 12:30 slot became fixed, symbolizing a near-perfect tradition — until now.
Commissioner Roger Goodell explained the rationale behind the scheduling alteration just before the release of the 2025 NFL schedule in May. “We’re probably going to move from a 12:30 p.m. ET start to 1 p.m. ET,” he said. “We’ll go back to the traditional windows.” The adjustment reflects the NFL’s intent to standardize game times and perhaps modernize its approach to an evolving television and viewer landscape.
Thanksgiving football has become a staple American tradition, and in 2006 the NFL expanded the holiday lineup from a doubleheader to a tripleheader by adding a prime-time game. This season, that late-night contest features a highly anticipated appearance by Joe Burrow as the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Baltimore Ravens at 8:20 p.m. ET. The Dallas Cowboys, who have traditionally hosted the late afternoon Thanksgiving game since 1966, continue that tradition by facing the Kansas City Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
Although fans may miss the familiar 12:30 p.m. kickoff from years past, the 1 p.m. slot signals a thoughtful evolution in NFL scheduling designed to accommodate a wider national audience while respecting cherished traditions. As the Lions meet the Packers in this fresh Thanksgiving opener, the NFL reminds us that even long-standing customs can adapt over time — delivering exciting football action that honors history while embracing the future.
