DETROIT - Ford Field (65,000)

[rantanamo]

NFL
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3f/New_Lions_Logo.svg/100px-New_Lions_Logo.svg.png

Detroit Lions

4x Champion:
1935, 1952, 1953, 1957




Home of the NFL's Detroit Lions

http://www.photography-plus.com/images/Detroit/FordField072803_10.jpg
http://www.soulofamerica.com/images2/photosmi2/Ford-Field.jpg
http://www.fadool.net/images/seats/Ford%20Field%20Opening%20Day%20panoramic%20small.JPG

diagram
http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/overview.gif
http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/cutaway.gif

Seating
suite - http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/suiteseats.gif
club - http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/clubseats.gif

concourse - http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/concourseseats.gif



one of the best concourse areas ever that blends right into the bowl. Little known is the fact that it is made out of two 80 year old warehouses.
http://www.detnews.com/lions/fordfield/images/atriumoverview.jpg
http://www.fadool.net/images/seats/FordFieldsouthclub%20atrium.jpg
http://www.fadool.net/images/seats/comericapark%20from%20inside%20ford%20field.JPG
http://img26.exs.cx/img26/4553/ford162wq.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://luciana.misura.org/fotos/football/ford-field.jpg
http://img25.exs.cx/img25/1816/ford62us.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

Great bowl design, IMO, to get the suites/boxes out of the way and letting lots of light in, though it is an indoor stadium. Not a bad seat in the house either.

http://img26.exs.cx/img26/543/ford105ay.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)
http://img155.exs.cx/img155/3056/ford225uk.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

great seating bowl
great concourse
noise of an indoor venue
sharp looking
all the technology that an NFL stadium should have
definitely one of the best even though I hate domes.
Should be a great Superbowl host.
http://img51.exs.cx/img51/8553/ford242qs.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

[PHXbevo]

i've really like that stadium, though i've never seen it from the perspective that you've just shown. i like it even more now. Plus, Roy Williams, Cory Redding, and Shaun Rogers makes the product on the field worth watching too.


thanks for the pics. i give it a 8.0

[rantanamo]

Lions = Longhorns north. As much as I want DJ for a Texas team, Detroit would be the next place I'd like to see him.

[th0m]

From the outside it looks just like a big mall, but from the inside it looks quite impressive, so does that concourse area.

[Rapid]

Very impressive!

[TexasBoi]

Great stadium for the University of Texas @ Detroit.

[Jaybird]

Quite the impressive stadium and new. Not to mention MASSIVE and should serve as a great venue for the 2006 Super Bowl and the 2005 MLB All-Star game. I saw Eminem in concert there once. IMO, excellent move to move the Lions downtown out of Pontiac, and it seems like a neater stadium.

[DrJoe]

MLB all-star game??? Wont that be played here, lol.

http://danielleodette.com/images/detroit/comerica%20park%20wide.JPG

[daveyboy44]

Very nice, huge improvement over the Silverdome. It looks very fan friendly and apears to have lots of natural lighting which is very important for a dome.

[HoldenV8]

Record crowd @ Ford Field: 78,129 Michigan State v University of Kentucky - BasketBowl 14/12/2003. A college basketball game for crying out loud. Are these people nuts?

[TexasBoi]

Michigan State has a pretty good program and Kentucky is a all time national and traditional powerhouse in college basketball. It's not that far from Michigan either and you would have crowds like that. Kentucky fans follow wherever the team is going and of course Michigan State isn't far from Detroit. College Basketball is huge in the midwest so this should come as no surprise.

[rantanamo]

is there a Final Four scheduled for Ford? I wonder if they would use that same setup if there is.

[Roekie]

A 10 plus !!!

[flagship]

I preferred the Silverdome.

[rantanamo]

^Barry Sanders memories?

[Morten M]

Is it big enough for the superbowl?

[rantanamo]

It is hosting this season's Superbowl. Either they will fill in the gap with temp seats, or The NFL gave them a waiver in favor of their new stadium Superbowl promises.

[Köbtke]

I'd give it either a 10, or a 6 or 7.

The 10 because it simply blew me away at first. Veeeeeery nice looking, although I don't like all those luxury suites and such. But other than that... Veeeeeery nice.

Then I changed my mind a bit. It kind of looks, as stated earlier in this thread, like a mall. The concourse especially.

The warehouse fact makes up for a good deal of the "mall" look though.

I'm going to give it a 9.5, because mall look or not, it looks damn good.

[Jim856796]

I remembered that there was a proposal to put a 230-room hotel inside Ford Field.

p.s.: The facility hosted WrestleMania 23 in 2007

[Dallasbrink]

boring stadium

[eMKay]

My 2nd favorite NFL Stadium, great design with the suites on one side (pioneered by Atlanta's Arena) it gets the true fans sitting on the other side closer to the action.

[Benn]

Higher percentage behind the ends though, and personally I have a hard time respecting a stadium with a full roof, football is an outdoor sport.

[Mr. Fusion]

Did a great job with incorporating the warehouse into suites and the overall design is great, however the roof is a cold dark eyesore. It should at least be retractible. :)

[Goothrey]

I dont care for it all that much.

[Vilak]

Very beautiful stadium!

[nyrmetros]

Is the field FIFA approved?

[Mr. Fusion]

Is the field FIFA approved?
No need. FIFA can have the Pontiac Silverdome. :)

[eMKay]

No need. FIFA can have the Pontiac Silverdome. :)

It's still in use? I didn't see the need for replacing it, other than the fact that it's in the suburbs and Ford Field will bring people downtown.

[Mr. Fusion]

It's still in use? I didn't see the need for replacing it, other than the fact that it's in the suburbs and Ford Field will bring people downtown.
Unfortunately my knowledge only extends to that of Wikipedia :) the Silverdome is still around, though it hasn't hosted anything for quite a while. And like you said Ford Field and Comerica Park were designed alongside each other as pieces of a larger urban revitalization plan for Motown. The Silverdome sat over 80,000 for NFL games so I could imagine blackout rules could have played a factor in desiring a smaller venue.

[krudmonk]

That place makes me not hate domes.

[FastFerrari]

not a bad stadium at all...better in Detroit than Pontiac

[nyrmetros]

No need. FIFA can have the Pontiac Silverdome. :)

You mean another white elephant?

[fenway58]

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c37/cripsey06/Image004.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/scorpioncwo/sports/NFL/NFC/NORTH/Lions/fordfield.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o11/LAPromotions/Superbowl%20XL%20206/46e3.jpg

[tritown]

Is the field FIFA approved?

You would be more likely to know than I would, but it looks wide enough just by eyeing it.

[tritown]

http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/DetroitLions/newfront.jpg

The exterior view from the street level is my favorite. I still can't decide if I like the inside, though.

(I found this on google image search)

[Jim856796]

Ford Field is to host the 2009 NCAA Final Four Championship Game on April 4-6.

[Livno80101]

outside is maybe 4.5 (out of 10 because looks like a factory or something :ohno: ), but inside 9.5 (out of 10, great, compact, suites are well placed and situated :nuts:)

P.S. When will you be champions? it's long, too long since last trophy:ohno:

[Scba]

outside is maybe 4.5 (out of 10 because looks like a factory or something :ohno: ), but inside 9.5 (out of 10, great, compact, suites are well placed and situated :nuts:)

P.S. When will you be champions? it's long, too long since last trophy:ohno:

Might want to set expectations just a weeeeeeeeee bit lower.

[Livno80101]

Might want to set expectations just a weeeeeeeeee bit lower.

so , you mean there is no chance of becoming champions in close future or what

[KingmanIII]

outside is maybe 4.5 (out of 10 because looks like a factory or something :ohno: ), but inside 9.5 (out of 10, great, compact, suites are well placed and situated :nuts:)

P.S. When will you be champions? it's long, too long since last trophy:ohno:

It actually incorporates the former warehouse of the now-defunct Hudson's department store, which was built in 1920 (the building houses the suites).

[pompeyfan]

Record crowd @ Ford Field: 78,129 Michigan State v University of Kentucky - BasketBowl 14/12/2003. A college basketball game for crying out loud. Are these people nuts?

Wrestlemania 23 got 80,103 fans inside the stadium.

As for the stadium itself, a 6. Nothing to me really stands out about it.

[Benn]

so , you mean there is no chance of becoming champions in close future or what

They might make the playoffs in the next ten years, but they've won like one playoff game since the 50, that franchise is diseased. Nice to have in division though, can pretty much write off two wins, at least those of us wearing purple.

[KingmanIII]

so , you mean there is no chance of becoming champions in close future or what

They've lost fewer than 10 games (out of 16) once in the past 8 seasons, and that was 2007 in which they started 6-2 but lost 7 of their last 8. They haven't done worth a damn since Barry Sanders retired, and even beforehand they were on the decline.

And, of course, there was last year:
mlKUmkZ-2Sk

[PepMan]

Anyone have an image of Ford Center while being used for NCAA Basketball???

[JRQ]

Very nice stadium. One of my favorites- 10/10

[ryebreadraz]

http://rushthecourt.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/ford-field-michigan-st1.jpg
http://jpjackson.com/Basketbowl2003%20011.jpg

[KingmanIII]

Anyone have an image of Ford Center while being used for NCAA Basketball???

Ford Center, or Ford Field? :)

[obits]

this stadium deserves a better team...

[Livno80101]

this stadium deserves a better team...

yes for sure it deserves better team

by the way, this is 20,000th post on this thread:banana:

[pompeyfan]

yes for sure it deserves better team

by the way, this is 20,000th post on this thread:banana:

20,000? i count 49. 50 now

[JRQ]

20,000? i count 49. 50 now

Yeah I was sort of curious as to where this number came from myself.

[en1044]

yes for sure it deserves better team

by the way, this is 20,000th post on this thread:banana:

??

[Inaki Vazquez]

boring stadium


Ford Field ... Home of the 0-16 Lions

[Livno80101]

20,000? i count 49. 50 now

sorry, my bad, I thought on some other thread, but I wrote this on this thread :hammer:

[pompeyfan]

ok.

[salaverryo]

Ford Field ... Home of the 0-16 Lions

Hey, it's a PERFECT record. You gotta look at the positive side...:)

[Athinaios]

What a strange stadium - it looks like a factory or mall from outside :/ But inside is quite ok. I give 4.

P.S. Why rating begins from 3?:D

[Ganis]

im not a fan

[en1044]

What a strange stadium - it looks like a factory or mall from outside :/ But inside is quite ok. I give 4.

P.S. Why rating begins from 3?:D

An old warehouse was partially used in the construction.

[Athinaios]

Thanks for the explanation :) Now I see why it looks like it looks.

[westsidebomber]

Here's them setting up for this weekends Final 4.

http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/AP_Photo/2009/03/18/1237417257_3775/539w.jpg

[KingmanIII]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/3412972908_dcf63758db_b.jpg

[Ganis]

Nice

[massp88]

If 10 is the highest, I would rate Ford Field a 4 or 5. It's a pretty bland and boring stadium. Nothing special about this one.

[KingmanIII]

If 10 is the highest, I would rate Ford Field a 4 or 5. It's a pretty bland and boring stadium. Nothing special about this one.

A lot of American stadiums are that way until you've actually been in them--they're not just stadiums, they're more like theme parks that just happen to have a stadium inside.

[rantanamo]

Ford Field is great;

1.) Its an adaptive reuse

2.) Greatest concourse ever

3.) Suites are all bunched together on one side, leaving great sightlines for everyone else

4.) Its downtown

5.) It has huge skylights making it very airy for a dome. Perhaps the most light filled dome/arena ever

6.) video boards are huge, yet out of the way.

7.) Lots of character between the warehouses, the concourse gap and the rotunda. Doesn't have to be modern to be special

Only thing bad is the team that plays there.

[Huskies]

why don't the lions hang blue lions banners on that ugly brown wall between the stands and the field ?

[en1044]

why would you hang banners over a nice looking brick wall?

[Huskies]

i think that specific wall should always be team coloured ...like the bengals have their jungle ... thet brick wall gives a plain overall impression when you see ford field on tv IMO

[Basincreek]

I actually like this stadium. Most of the NFL stadiums that tried the retro look didn't pull it off but I think this one did. If only the Lions had a better team to exhibit there.

[KingmanIII]

I actually like this stadium. Most of the NFL stadiums that tried the retro look didn't pull it off but I think this one did.

Lambeau also did so quite well, IMO.

[Cheli24]

Ford Field is great;

1.) Its an adaptive reuse

2.) Greatest concourse ever

3.) Suites are all bunched together on one side, leaving great sightlines for everyone else

4.) Its downtown

5.) It has huge skylights making it very airy for a dome. Perhaps the most light filled dome/arena ever

6.) video boards are huge, yet out of the way.

7.) Lots of character between the warehouses, the concourse gap and the rotunda. Doesn't have to be modern to be special

Only thing bad is the team that plays there.
^^ I agree 100%


http://www.gridironstadiumnetwork.net/i/pic01_det.jpg
Nighttime view.

[Cheli24]

From public practice August 8, 2009
(the new logo and endzone design)

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1860/camp0044.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7222/tcamp0192.jpg

[MillerTime]

I like the new Logo but I'm not a fan of the new endzone design. I dont like the font they used and it doesnt fill the endzone well.

[Ganis]

as a graphic designer... I LOVE IT

[en1044]

Are they going to put a helmet logo or NFC logo in the endzone? It looks really bad with just the "LIONS"

[c6josh]

Huge interiors...amazing.

[Huskies]

I like the new Logo but I'm not a fan of the new endzone design. I dont like the font they used and it doesnt fill the endzone well.

agree. every team should first of paint the entire endzone team colour as base ... then they can do whateever they want ... i hate it when they just but letters in it and leave the rest uncoloured .... if you cross the goalline at the lions , the entire area should be blue, it gives a nice contrast to the rest of the field . then they can put a logo in it ...

[coren]

The use of the old wharehouses was a master stroke for the concourses but the interior bowl is pretty bland by recent standards. I would have to give this a 6 out of 10.

[KingmanIII]

The use of the old wharehouses was a master stroke for the concourses but the interior bowl is pretty bland by recent standards. I would have to give this a 6 out of 10.
I like the seating bowl, for the fact that all of the VIP boxes are built on one side, giving everyone else closer seats.

[Benn]

Not realy, its cheaper to stack premium areas (mostly for plumbing reasons), but you bring a bowl in closer by overhanging levels, not by removing one side, you give all of the suites the same lateral distance to the field, but it will move everyone else further back. It also puts a higher percentage of seats in the ends which is not good for football. If they had really overhung the upper level then it would bring the back rows in closer than most but they didn't. In terms of lateral distance from the field the back row at Ford Field is slightly further than the Georgia Dome despite having a substantially higher capacity. The much maligned Metrodome and Edward Jones Dome keep the back row much closer to the field despite being regarded as among the worst facilities in the league.
Also there are infact suites up on the opposite sideline behind the 200 level.

[Bluejays753]

It had 80,103 at WM23 which I believe is a record

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUB5qB7LdU0

[KingmanIII]

Not realy, its cheaper to stack premium areas (mostly for plumbing reasons), but you bring a bowl in closer by overhanging levels, not by removing one side, you give all of the suites the same lateral distance to the field, but it will move everyone else further back. It also puts a higher percentage of seats in the ends which is not good for football. If they had really overhung the upper level then it would bring the back rows in closer than most but they didn't. In terms of lateral distance from the field the back row at Ford Field is slightly further than the Georgia Dome despite having a substantially higher capacity. The much maligned Metrodome and Edward Jones Dome keep the back row much closer to the field despite being regarded as among the worst facilities in the league.
Also there are infact suites up on the opposite sideline behind the 200 level.
I meant "closer" as in "lower."

I bet the last row of the upper deck at Ford Field is as low as the first row at Jerryworld.

[Benn]

Im sure it is but lower and closer are different things. The Rose bowl stays lower than any NFL facility but the back row is further than most. Also Jerryworld goes back further and up higher than any other facility in the league.

[Ganis]

do you know that for sure about Cowboys stadium??????

[Jan Del Castillo]

9. Very good. Regards.