Nothing – not tense family feasts, not street parade floats, not even turducken (RIP John Madden) – is as central to the Thanksgiving Day experience as a full slate of football, and there are four cracking grudge contests to get your teeth into this Thanksgiving Thursday.
Per tradition, the Lions and Cowboys are on hosting duties, though in a break from the usual format, Detroit are actually good now! So despite being on a six-game winless run on Thanksgiving Day, Dan Campbell's men are the heavy favorites to beat their NFC North rivals Green Bay in the day's early game, from 12.30pm ET, at Ford Field.
After that it's over to NRG Stadium for the all-NFC East meeting of the Commanders and the Cowboys, from 4.30pm ET. Dallas are in fine fettle, with cornerback DaRon Bland already hailed as the frontrunner for the defensive player of the year award, whereas Washington head coach Ron Rivera is waiting for the hammer to fall. He's now overseen seven defeats in the Commanders' last nine games.
You'll then be confronted with a dilemma. The Battle of the Golden Egg between local college football rivals the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs will begin at 7.30pm ET but the top-of-the-standings showdown between NFC West foes the 49ers and Seahawks is scheduled to begin at 8.20pm ET. Our advice: record NFL and watch it after. Family? What do you mean? You all watch football, right?
Whichever way you go, read on and we'll show you the best and cheapest ways to watch Thanksgiving football wherever you are this year including all your NFL live streams.
Watch Thanksgiving football on Sling
Thanksgiving games and TV schedule
(All times ET)
Thursday, November 23
12.30pm: Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions (Fox)
4.30pm: Washington Commanders vs Dallas Cowboys (CBS, Paramount +)
7.30pm: Mississippi vs Mississippi State (ESPN)
8.20pm: San Francisco 49ers vs Seattle Seahawks (NBC, Peacock)
You can use a VPN to watch Thanksgiving football from abroad. Full details on how to do that just below.
How to watch Thanksgiving football from outside your country
We've set out how you can watch Thanksgiving football in a number of countries around the world. However, if you're away travelling for pleasure or for work, you probably won't be able to tune in like you normally would at home. This is the result of geo-blocking – best understood as digital borders that restrict certain services and content to specific parts of the world.
You can get around these digital borders by using one of the best VPNs, which can also offer robust protection from cybercriminals and government snooping. They're really easy to use too.
Use a VPN to watch Thanksgiving football from anywhere:
How to use a VPN to watch Thanksgiving football
Using a VPN is as easy as one-two-three...
1. Download and install a VPN – as we say, our top choice is ExpressVPN.
2. Connect to the appropriate server location – open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select the appropriate location, eg: 'US' for Sling.
3. Go to the broadcaster's stream - head to your home broadcaster's site or app and watch as if you were at home – Sling for Americans abroad.
How to watch Thanksgiving football in the US without cable
How to watch Thanksgiving football in the UK
How to watch Thanksgiving football in Canada
How to watch Thanksgiving football in Australia
