Millions of Americans welcomed John Madden into their homes on Thanksgiving during his long career as the NFL’s most popular broadcaster, and Madden will once again be remembered by the league and its TV partners on Thanksgiving this year.
The Bears-Lions game on CBS, Giants-Cowboys game on Fox and Dolphins-Packers game on NBC will all begin with this video, in which Madden says, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game.”
Players on all six teams will wear Madden patches on their jerseys, and the coin used for the pregame coin toss will feature Madden’s silhouette as “heads” and his famous turducken as “tails.”
The MVP of each of the three games will receive a Madden trophy and will choose a high school or youth football program that will receive a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation. Items from the three games will also be auctioned with proceeds going to the John Madden Foundation for the youth of Oakland.
Madden called 20 Thanksgiving games during his broadcasting career and famously awarded turkey legs to the players who most impressed him on each Thanksgiving day.
