By Lydia Jane Allison
Multi-Faceted Celebration Will Take Place Across All Three Broadcast Networks
NEW YORK — Nov. 14, 2023 — The National Football League continues to honor and commemorate the late John Madden with the second annual “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” on Thursday, November 23.
Madden once said, “There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” and the “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” brings together all the things that were important to him – family, football, food, tradition and fun.
This year’s edition of the “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” will feature the following elements:
- Network partners FOX, CBS and NBC will celebrate Madden’s contributions to the game, both on the field and in the broadcast booth, with tributes interspersed throughout each game on Thanksgiving Day. The lineup includes the Green Bay Packers versus the Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX, the Washington Commanders versus the Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS and the San Francisco 49ers versus the Seattle Seahawks at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC. Live game audio of all three Thanksgiving Day games will be broadcast nationally by Westwood One and SiriusXM.
- A special NFL-produced “Madden Hallmark” will kick off each broadcast, conveying what Thanksgiving meant to him in his own words. The “Hallmark” can be viewed here.
- Each network will select a player of the game who will receive a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation to be given to a high school or youth football program in their name, as the topic of youth football was important to Madden.
- A coin featuring a silhouette of Coach Madden on one side (“Heads”) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side (“Tails) will be used for the coin toss, and a patch featuring a silhouette of Coach Madden will be included on the jersey of each player at all three games. The coin can be viewed here and the jersey patch can be viewed here.
- Special “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” stencils will be placed at the sidelines of Ford Field (Detroit), AT&T Stadium (Dallas) and Lumen Field (Seattle).
- The NFL’s radio broadcast partners Westwood One and SiriusXM NFL Radio will air Madden and Thanksgiving-related programming throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving Day.
- The NFL’s social media handles across X, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, AP Images and others will support “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” by posting content and imagery related to Thanksgiving throughout the day.
The “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” began in 2022 as a way to honor the late icon’s indelible legacy. For information on last year’s event celebration, please visit here.
COURTESY NFL COMMUNICATIONS
