 Unlike the afternoon games, this game has no fixed host and has featured different teams annually; the prime time game has been contested almost solely by division rivals since 2012.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.