Detroit Lions in Detroit tickets

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, competing in the NFL as a member of the NFC North and playing home games at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. The franchise began in 1928 as the Portsmouth Spartans in Portsmouth, Ohio, joined the NFL in 1930, and moved to Detroit in 1934, taking a new name that nodded to the city's baseball franchise, the Detroit Tigers. The look has stayed remarkably consistent ever since, with silver helmets, silver pants, and blue or white jerseys, all built around Honolulu blue, a color officially inspired by the waves off the coast of Hawaii. The team has been owned by the Ford family since 1964, an ownership thread that runs through most of the franchise's Detroit history.

The championship legacy came early. Detroit won four NFL championships between 1935 and 1957, with the title teams of the 1950s led by Hall of Famers like quarterback Bobby Layne, halfback Doak Walker, and linebacker Joe Schmidt. A long lean stretch followed the 1957 title: the Lions did not win another playoff game until the 1991 season, and the next one did not come until 2023. That 2023 season brought an NFC North championship and a playoff victory, with another division title following in 2024. Through every era, all-time greats have worn the Honolulu blue and silver, from cornerback Lem Barney and tight end Charlie Sanders to running back Barry Sanders and wide receiver Calvin Johnson, two of the most beloved players in franchise history. Home fields have shifted across the generations as well, from Tiger Stadium to the Pontiac Silverdome to Ford Field, which has hosted the team since 2002.

No team is more woven into Thanksgiving than the Lions. In 1934, owner George A. Richards, who also owned a major Detroit radio station, arranged for NBC to carry the Thanksgiving game live across its national network, and apart from the World War II years of 1939 through 1944, Detroit has played on Thanksgiving every season since. The holiday game remains a national television tradition and the emotional centerpiece of the Lions calendar. Around it sits the NFC North gauntlet, with home-and-home battles against the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings that stretch back generations. With Roary the Lion on the sidelines and the fight song Gridiron Heroes in the air, a Lions game day at Ford Field is a genuine Detroit institution, and Thanksgiving games and NFC North rivalry matchups are reliably the most in-demand Detroit Lions tickets of the year.