Detroit Lions’ stadium future remains secure at Ford Field, but what happens when every NFL team wants something new?
The Detroit Lions aren’t leaving Ford Field anytime soon. But look around the NFL — everybody seems to want something newer. So what happens when Ford Field eventually gets old enough for Detroit to have that conversation? The answer is a lot more complicated than just building somewhere else.
The Detroit Lions are not moving anytime soon. Ford Field is in great shape, the Ford family just extended the naming rights through 2036, and the stadium received a $100 million renovation in 2017. But with the Chicago Bears, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, Washington Commanders, and Kansas City Chiefs all pursuing new stadiums, you have to wonder: what do the Lions do when that day eventually comes?
Look, I get it. When you look across the lake at one of Detroit’s biggest rivals, the Bears, and you see them moving to Indiana for a new stadium, it makes you think. The Titans are building a new stadium. The Jaguars are building a new stadium. The Browns are looking for one. The Chiefs are looking to build across state lines in Kansas City, Kansas, instead of Kansas City, Missouri. It’s happening everywhere.
Ford Field is not falling apart
But here’s the thing. Ford Field opened in 2002, just a few years after Nissan Stadium and Huntington Bank Field, both of which opened in 1999. Those buildings are being replaced. Ford Field is not. And when you ask me today, Aug. 17, 2026, I’m going to tell you there is nothing wrong with Ford Field. It’s a beautiful stadium. The seats are great. The entertainment value is great. The building itself is not falling apart in any way.
I could walk into the Pontiac Silverdome back in the day and see the cracks. I could see how that building was falling apart, how it couldn’t really be updated any more than it had already been updated. I can’t see that with Ford Field, and I don’t think the Lions or the Ford family see that either.
The team just signed a deal last summer extending the Ford Field branding through 2036. They’re not thinking about leaving. You could easily see them doing another massive renovation, maybe tearing out all the seats and putting in new ones, adding new venues, new restaurants, new things inside the building. That’s the more likely path.
Detroit’s downtown layout makes it nearly impossible to leave
The biggest factor here really is the city itself. You can walk out the front door of Ford Field and go right across the street to Comerica Park where the Tigers play. From there, it’s about a 10-minute walk to Little Caesars Arena where the Red Wings and Pistons play. Everything is right downtown, all in this same area where billions of dollars have been invested in real estate, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
And it’s not just the sports facilities. The Fox Theatre is right there. The Detroit Opera House is right there. The Detroit Athletic Club, the Masonic Temple, it’s all concentrated into one zone. The Lions are locked into it. The whole city is locked into it. They can’t leave this spot. They shouldn’t leave this spot. The last thing anybody wants to see is this team move out to the suburbs, or God forbid move to Ohio, or some weird thing like the Bears just did.
What happens down the road?
Somewhere between 2030 and 2040, you’re looking at a near 40-year-old stadium. You could do a lot of renovations, and I’m sure they will. You could realistically keep Ford Field open forever if you do it right. Look at Lambeau Field. That thing is never going to close because there has been an unbelievable amount of money poured into it. It can be done.
But every team eventually wants something new. And if it comes to that point for the Lions, where do they go? What do they do? You can’t leave the city. You can’t leave where you’re at. If you go across the street from Ford Field, there are housing developments, condos, all these new things being built. It was easy in the early 2000s to find space because there was a lot of land that had not been used. Detroit economically wasn’t in its best spot. Now it’s in a good spot, and it’s only getting better. They’re only going to keep building things.
Do you tear Ford Field down and build a new stadium right where it sits? Do you send the Lions up to Ann Arbor to play in the Big House for a few years while you get it done? The Minnesota Vikings did something similar when they moved to their new stadium, playing at the University of Minnesota and the Mall of America for a stretch. There are options, but none of them are clean.
The other thing to consider is that Ford Field is special because it incorporated one of Detroit’s biggest landmarks, the Hudson Building. If you tear the stadium down, you lose that connection to Detroit’s past. Will anybody really care about that in 2040? I would, but I’m an older guy.
The bottom line
I have to say this again because I really want to get this point across. This is not something that needs to happen right now. Ford Field is a beautiful stadium. I was just there for a concert a couple weeks ago. I’ve covered playoff games, regular season games. It’s an unbelievable atmosphere. I’ve never heard anybody actually say anything bad about Ford Field. The video boards are great, the Wi-Fi is solid, the seating is fine. It still has the old Lions logo on the seats, but that kind of adds a little charm to it if you ask me.
I think the biggest change the Lions would like to make at Ford Field is to hang a Super Bowl banner. You can’t buy that with a renovation. But for everything else, I just don’t see what needs fixing. Detroit has it like no other city has it with everything concentrated into one area downtown. Let’s see what happens when the time comes, but that time is not now.
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