How the Army-Navy game played in Philadelphia became globally recognized with the start of the holiday (shopping) season.
For a variety of reasons, Black Friday just doesn’t hit the same. “That’s easy to say in 2025,” you might argue, “when everyone believes we’re heading into a recession.” It’s simple math; less money in hand means less to spend on gifts, which means there’s no rush to go out early on the “official” first shopping day of the holiday season. One could also attribute a similar feeling to the COVID-19 crisis, which has led many to shop online from the comfort of their homes. Some even suspect that retailers are intentionally deceiving customers by falsely advertising discounts that are not as significant as they claim.
What’s unfortunate is that, like many aspects of American life—even though Black Friday has gone global—most people only associate it with going to their favorite stores and splurging on the season’s hottest items… simply because it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving. Strangely, this has been enough to lead to tragic incidents of people being trampled to death. This raises the question: how did the day after Thanksgiving come to be known as “Black Friday?”
For many, the explanation has always been that throughout the year, stores operate at a loss, or “in the red,” a term borrowed from accountants who used red ink to indicate debt and black ink to indicate profit. During the holiday season, the influx of shoppers eager to buy gifts for their loved ones supposedly helps stores turn a profit, or go “in the black,” with the Friday after Thanksgiving being the first day this turnaround can occur. However, like many holiday traditions, this explanation may not be entirely accurate.
Historians say that the gold panic of 1869 was one of the most impactful early uses of the term “Black Friday,” which was the name given to September 24, 1869, the Friday when a plot to corner the gold market triggered a financial crisis. “That has nothing to do with Thanksgiving,” you’re probably thinking—and you would be right. Historians have noted that in the early 1950s, working folks began calling in sick on the Friday after Thanksgiving, forcing a four-day weekend. Some writers tried to make “Black Friday” happen in that instance, but it never caught on. “That has nothing to do with holiday shoppers bringing in money to stores,” you’re probably saying to yourself, although, surprisingly, that particular Friday in November being called “Black Friday” has some very Philadelphian roots.
If you’re unfamiliar with the legendary Army-Navy college football rivalry, the two teams meet annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with ninety of those games taking place in Philadelphia. Hundreds of thousands would descend on the City of Brotherly Love, prompting Philadelphia police and bus drivers to dub the Friday before the game as “Black Friday.” The New York Times described as “the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City,” with increased traffic and a rise in shoplifting causing dread for locals. (As the story goes, in 1961, there was an effort by retailers in Philadelphia to rebrand the massive shopping day “Big Friday,” but “Black Friday” ultimately prevailed.
That said, just like the chopped cheese in New York City, even if you’ve remembered Black Friday being a thing all of your life, the Friday after Thanksgiving being seen as “the day American shoppers help put stores back in the financial black” wasn’t really a thing until 1981, although there were reports in 1985 with many still not familiar with both the term or the “red ink/black ink” reasoning. But, like any good marketing ploy, the more you push a particular story, the further it goes. (To that point, the one and only holiday season this writer worked Black Friday, the “red ink/black ink” story was part of our manager’s pep talk.)
Perhaps it was the excess of the 90s, but at some point, simply shopping on Friday wasn’t enough. The competition shifted to who could open their store earliest. K-Mart was the first to open on Thanksgiving Day in 1991, a trend that became widespread over the years, promoting “Black Thursday” as a way to get a head start on the Black Friday chaos. The rise of smartphones and social media brought many to the frenzy of doors opening and frantic shoppers rushing in, pushing and shoving to grab coffee makers or gaming consoles. It got so bad that there’s a website—blackfridaydeathcount.com—that tracks the violence that has taken place on Black Friday since 2006. According to their data, 2013 was the most active year, which is interesting considering that Black Friday sales reportedly dropped by 11 percent in 2014. Analysts attributed this decline to factors such as the ongoing recession and a common issue that truly plagues Black Friday today: sales starting days or weeks before the actual day.
Is that a problem? It can be. Attracting customers with early November discounts is beneficial, but may result in them not returning after Thanksgiving, especially if there are no new offers. Additionally, online shopping has become a regular part of many people’s lives for over a decade. Why stand in line at 6 AM on Black Friday (or, for some, 8 PM on Thanksgiving) to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 when you have just as good a chance (if not better) of purchasing it online? The concept isn’t new; the term “Cyber Monday” has been used for over two decades, initially by those who preferred to skip Black Friday shopping and grab deals the following Monday. Now, some retailers are advertising specific Black Friday deals, and following up with more deals on Cyber Monday. You can now shop for Black Friday deals on any day except Black Friday, if you choose to.
Alternatively, you could eschew Black Friday altogether and give back. In 2010, the “Small Business Saturday” initiative from American Express was born, focusing on supporting smaller local businesses suffering from the Great Recession; it’s still a thriving alternative to the more corporate vibes Black Friday gives off. There’s even Giving Tuesday, which falls on the Tuesday after Cyber Monday and is focused on contributing to charities as a reminder that, during the holiday season, there are always those in need. Just as we can mark on our calendars when those deals hit the shelves, we can give back to our communities.
At this point, Black Friday is becoming one of those “you had to be there” phenomena. During peak Black Friday, you were guaranteed to hear about something astounding that went down over a discounted TV or the brawl in the food court over a bump in a department store. The convenience of online shopping is a godsend—how many of us have been saved by Amazon Prime’s extraordinary shipping times—but the thrill of the hunt is gone. The need for Black Friday, the marketing ploy that store owners leaned on to get people into their stores, is gone when the internet makes the world your customer base. Black Friday isn’t done yet; many of us are in our second or third week of being inundated by pre-/early Black Friday deal emails.
And to think, all of this somehow spun out of how angry Philadelphians got when the Army-Navy game came to town. Remember those poor souls when you’re gearing up to battle the crowds at the mall wait in a queue online for that new Switch 2 bundle.
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