Thanksgiving and Black Friday Sports on TV Guide: What to Watch During the Holidays

Sports viewing is more ingrained in Thanksgiving than all the major U.S. holidays. There's always something to be said about plopping down to take in a baseball game on the Fourth of July or an NBA game on Christmas. But settling into the deepest crease of the couch after two or three servings more than you really need to take in NFL football is a truly ubiquitous experience.

In recent years it's spread beyond Thanksgiving, too. Black Friday is now home to multiple NFL games on top of all the high school and college games to enjoy, and there's NBA on, too. With Black Friday also a bank holiday in the United States that makes Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving truly elite days of sports-viewing. Especially if you aren't big into shopping.

Here you'll find everything you need to know about what sports are on when for Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Thanksgiving

The NFL dominates Thanksgiving; north of 30 million viewers tune in annually to watch football. There's usually some college football thrown in there but the power conferences have started to avoid going up against NFL games in an effort to secure the highest ratings possible. This year it's three NFL games and only one FBS CFB game on the slate.

Additionally there will be various men's and women's college basketball games throughout the day being broadcast on both national and local affiliates, highlighted by the Battle 4 Atlantis on ESPN.

Here's what the NFL schedule looks like.

Thanksgiving NFL schedule

Thanksgiving College Football Schedule

Now for the CFB slate.

Thanksgiving Men's College Basketball Schedule

Here's what Thanksgiving looks like for the men's college basketball world. Below you'll find the Top 25 matchups scheduled. You can find the bracket for the Battle 4 Atlantis here.

Thanksgiving Women's College Basketball Schedule

Finally, here's the NCAAW Top 25 slate for Thanksgiving, featuring No. 1-ranked UCLA. Games not being broadcast nationally are noted as LOCAL in the CHANNEL column.

Black Friday Schedule

Usually Black Friday is reserved for the other sports. But last year the NFL decided it wanted a piece of that pie, too. And made it happen pretty quickly.

This year's Black Friday will feature the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs right in the early afternoon as everyone gets back from the sales rush. They'll fight for sports viewers with a full slate of NBA, college football, and college basketball games. Additionally, the NHL will return with a ton of games after taking Thanksgiving off.

Thanksgiving is the day more commonly associated with sports but Black Friday is officially sneaking up the power rankings as far as variety and quantity. You could watch sports every second of the day beginning at noon. Outstanding stuff.

Here's what the schedule looks like across the board.

Black Friday NFL Schedule

Black Friday NBA Schedule

Here are all the NBA games on Black Friday. Games not broadcast nationally are marked as LOCAL under the CHANNEL column. Every game is part of the 2024 NBA Cup tournament group qualifying stage.