Title: 1966 Dallas Cowboys season
Content:  With the growth in popularity of televised NFL games, the league began looking for a second team in addition to the Detroit Lions, to host an annual Thanksgiving Day game. Every team turned down the offer, except for the Dallas Cowboys. General Manager Tex Schramm recognized this as an opportunity for the franchise to increase its popularity and establish its own Thanksgiving Day game tradition. In 1966, the 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). Since then, the two "traditional" Thanksgiving Day pro football games have been in Detroit and Dallas.
Title: History of the Dallas Cowboys
Content:  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. With exception of 1975 and 1977, the Cowboys have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since. In 1967, the Cowboys finished with a 9&ndash;5 record and had their first 
Title: NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Content: The American Football League (AFL) also played Thanksgiving Day games during this decade. ; The Dallas Cowboys started playing their traditional series in 1966. 
Title: Thanksgiving (United States)
Content:   American football is an important part of many Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States, a tradition that dates to the earliest era of the sport in the late 19th century. Professional football games are often held on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. The National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation except during World War II. The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day from 1934 to 1938 and again every year since 1945. In 1966, the Dallas Cowboys, who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. The league added a third game in prime time in 2006, which aired on 
Title: NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Content:  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 on their own to host games on Thanksgiving 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 
Title: Dallas Cowboys
Content:  In their seventh season in 1966, the Cowboys agreed to host a second NFL Thanksgiving game; the tradition of a team hosting on Thanksgiving had been popularized by the Detroit Lions (who had hosted a game on the day mostly un-interrupted since moving to Detroit in 1934). General manager Tex Schramm wanted to find a way to boost publicity on a national level for his team, which had struggled for most of the 1960s. In fact, the NFL guaranteed a cut of the gate revenue in the belief that the game would not be a hit because of said struggle. With a kickoff just after 5 p.m. CST, over eighty thousand fans (and millions viewing on CBS) saw the Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns 26–14 at the Cotton Bowl. In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of Commissioner Pete 
Title: NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Content:  American Football League, both of which would later be absorbed into the NFL, also held Thanksgiving contests, although neither of those leagues had permanent hosts. Likewise, the AFL of 1926 also played two Thanksgiving games in its lone season of existence, while the AFL of 1936 hosted one in its first season, which featured the Cleveland Rams, a future NFL team, and the 1940–41 incarnation of the American Football League played two games in 1940 on the earlier "Franksgiving" date. In 1966, the Dallas Cowboys, who had been founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It 
Title: NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Content:  the Cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day forever. Since 1978, Thanksgiving games have been hosted in Detroit and Dallas every year, with Detroit in the early time slot and Dallas in the late afternoon slot. Because of television network commitments in place through the 2013 season, to make sure that both the AFC-carrying network (NBC from 1965 to 1997, and CBS since 1998) and the NFC-carrying network (CBS from 1956 to 1993, and Fox since 1994) got at least one game each, one of these games was between NFC opponents, and one 
Title: NFL on Thanksgiving Day
Content:  The concept of American football games being played on Thanksgiving Day dates back to 1876, shortly after the game had been invented, as it was a day that most people had off from work. In that year, the college football teams at Yale and Princeton began an annual tradition of playing each other on Thanksgiving Day. The University of Michigan also made it a tradition to play annual Thanksgiving games, holding 19 such games from 1885 to 1905. The Thanksgiving Day games between Michigan and the Chicago Maroons in the 1890s have been cited as "The Beginning of Thanksgiving Day Football." 
Title: 2016 Dallas Cowboys season
Content:  Thanksgiving Day game In the traditional Thanksgiving game, the Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins, who had just came off a victory against the Green Bay Packers. In a game of catch-up, the Redskins never led; however, they made a valiant effort in the fourth quarter to take the lead. The Cowboys held them off and won the game, thus extending their winning streak to ten games for the first time in franchise history. This was also the first time since 2013 that the Cowboys would sweep the Redskins.

Question: when did the cowboys start playing on thanksgiving day?
Answer: In 1966.
1966.
1978.