Ford Field is an indoor football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan that is the home of the Detroit Lions of the NFL. It is across the street from Comerica Park. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable up to 70,000 for football and 80,000 for basketball. The naming rights were paid for by Ford at $40 million over 20 years; the Ford family (including Lions owner William Clay Ford, Sr.) holds a controlling interest in the company.

Design

Ford Field was planned simultaneously with Comerica Park, which opened in April 2000, as part of a public project to replace Tiger Stadium and the Pontiac Silverdome. Ford Field was constructed after Comerica Park, opening in 2002. It cost an estimated $430 million to build, financed largely through public money and the sale of the naming rights.

The stadium's design incorporates a six-story former Hudson's warehouse, which had stood since the 1920s. Architecturally, the stadium shares a likeness with its sister stadium Ford Center, a multipurpose sports/concert arena located in downtown Oklahoma City.

The presence of the warehouse allows for a seating arrangement that was unique among professional American football stadiums at the time of Ford Field's opening. The majority of suites at Ford Field are located in the Hudson Warehouse along the stadium's southern sideline, as are the lounges that serve the premium club seats on that side of the field. The bulk of the grandstand seats are located along the northern sideline and both endlines, with gaps in the stadium's upper half at the southwest and southeast corners. The upper deck on the stadium's northern sideline also contains one level of suites and a smaller section of club seating. A similar design was implemented at the renovated Soldier Field, albeit with the use of a new structure (as opposed to an existing building) to house four levels of suites.

Unlike most indoor stadiums, Ford Field allows a large amount of natural light to reach the playing field, thanks to immense skylights and large glass windows at the open corners. The southwest corner provides the seating bowl and concourse with sunlight year-round and also offers fans a view of downtown Detroit. To prevent the stadium from becoming an overly imposing presence in the Detroit skyline, the playing field and lower bowl (100 level) were set below street level, similar to the design at adjacent Comerica Park.

Ford Field is one of the only venues in the NFL that has end zones in the east and the west, the other being Cleveland Browns Stadium. The NFL has a rule against this type of construction, due to the sunlight which can be a major distraction to the players on the field. The NFL had to give permission for the east/west end-zone construction, because the Hudson's warehouse would have had to been altered otherwise. The natural light is not a distraction to the players in a day game, because the light only reaches as far as the sidelines, leaving the field still properly lit with the combination of artificial stadium lighting and sunlight.

Major events

On April 1, 2007, Ford Field hosted World Wrestling Entertainment's extravaganza WrestleMania 23. The event set a Ford Field attendance record of 80,103. It was the first WrestleMania held in the Detroit area since 93,173 fans set a world indoor attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome for WrestleMania III in 1987.

Ford Field transformed into a basketball arena in preparation for the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The stadium is home to the Motor City Bowl featuring a top Mid-American Conference team and a Big Ten Conference team. It has also hosted the annual Mid-American Conference Championship Game since 2004. On December 13, 2003, Ford Field hosted the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game, as 78,129 people packed the stadium for the Basketbowl, where the University of Kentucky defeated Michigan State University, 79-74. The MHSAA Football Finals also take place on Thanksgiving weekend, drawing over 60,000 fans.

The University of Detroit Mercy and Ford Field hosted the 2008 NCAA Basketball Tournament regional semifinal and final games (March 28 and 30, 2008), will host the 2009 Final Four (April 5 and 7, 2009), hosted by University of Detroit Mercy, and the 2010 Frozen Four (April 8 and 10, 2010).

Photo gallery

<gallery> Image:Pano2_copy_filtered_copy.jpg|A Wide Angle View of Ford Field before a Detroit Lions game. Image:Ford Field exterior.JPG|Ford Field allows natural light to penetrate through gray translucent roof panels. Image:FordFieldinsideMAC2006game.jpg|Before 2006 Mid-American Conference Championship game. Image:Fordfield4.jpg|Looking from section 111 towards press box and club suites. Image:Ford Field left view down Brush street.JPG|Old Hudson's warehouse exterior looking down Brush Street. Image:Ford-Field-September-10-2006.jpg|Ford Field playing surface. Image:FordFieldMAC2006.JPG|2006 MAC Championship: Central Michigan University vs. Ohio University. Image:FordField.jpg|Aerial view of Ford Field. Image:Ford Field.jpg|Front of Ford Field on December 26, 2006. Image:Ford Field 2007.JPG|Thousands wait to enter Ford Field for WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007. Image:Wrestlemania23 17.jpg|An attendance record setting 80,103 fans at Ford Field for WrestleMania 23. Image:Wrestlemania23_screen.jpg|WrestleMania 23 stage at Ford Field. Image:FordFieldsuperbowlXL.JPG|Ford Field on Super Bowl XL Sunday, countdown to kickoff on Comerica Park's scoreboard. </gallery>

References and further reading

External links

• Official site
• Motor City Bowl
• Video Review of Ford Field with on-site footage

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