6 takeaways from Rod Wood's media session: Lions add Brazil to global marketing rights

NFL Detroit Lions
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Snippets from each point below full article at link.

https://www.detroitlions.com/news/6-takeaways-from-rod-wood-s-media-session-detroit-lions-nfl

1. Allen Park is home for the foreseeable future

There had been talk at previous league meetings about the Lions potentially moving their home base out of Allen Park, but Wood said Tuesday that Allen Park will be the team’s home base for the foreseeable future.

2. International game likely in 2026

“I think it’s highly likely,” Wood said. “I’ve talked to the league about it and we’re certainly overdue.”

Detroit hasn’t played internationally since 2015 in London. The Lions have an extra home game in 2026 and Wood is pretty confident one of those will be played internationally

3. Season ticket info

Wood presented an interesting piece of data about the popularity of Lions season tickets. He said the average price of Lions home game tickets for the 10 games this past season, including the preseason, was $404 on the secondary market.

The second highest in the NFL was $270. That’s nearly 50 percent higher than the next team in the league. The Lions saw that and adjusted prices with a slight increase this offseason.

Detroit had a 98 percent renewal rate on tickets this offseason and still have 20,000-plus on the waiting list.

4. Wood is excited about international expansion

The Lions already have global marketing rights in Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and have expanded their reach into Brazil this offseason.

Campbell on offseason changes

5. Extending naming rights with Ford was important

It’s something the team has been working on for a while as they announced last week the extension of their naming rights agreement with Ford Motor Company for Ford Field through at least the 2036 season

6. Rule changes, bylaws and resolutions

The league approved three playing rule changes, three bylaw proposals and three resolutions while shelving more for discussion until May’s League Meetings including Detroit’s proposals on changing playoff seeding and roster rules

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Sucks to lose a home game IMO. Although Germany might be like a home game with St. Brown.

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Germany would be fantastic! Hopefully Munich……September and October fest.

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Thank you for the notes!

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The Blue wave will take over the Lowenbrau tent. It’s one of the biggest tents

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A Lions game in Germany seems a formality now. It has to happen.

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I’d do whatever it takes.

Hopefully not. Beer prices would skyrocket and Oktoberfest is way overrated.

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Marketing rights in Austria?

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I will be there if they play in Germany. No doubt about it.

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More from the Freep on ticket prices:

Lions season ticket renewals at 98%

The Lions raised season ticket prices an average of 24% for this season, on top of a 30% increase for 2024, but Wood said renewals remain high at 98% and there are more than 20,000 people on the season ticket waiting list.

“Unlike prior years, I never got a single complaint this year about anybody’s ticket price going up," Wood said. "We did get some complaints from some people who we identified as really being brokers. They were buying season tickets and then selling every game and making thousands of dollars.

“And so under the contract we have the right to take those tickets back. And so the biggest complaints I got were the people who had their tickets taken away from them because they now can’t resell them and make money.”

Wood acknowledged the Lions use the secondary ticket market to determine how to price their tickets for the season. Last year, he said the average resale for Lions tickets was an NFL-high $404, and the average cost of season tickets was less than $200.

“We look at what we think is reasonable given the market demand for the tickets and we track every game how many tickets are sold on the secondary market, what the price is,” Wood said. “We’re not going to jump to $400, but we are going to try and increase it to recognize what the market would carry.”

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Sounds like they are investing heavily in the weight room and locker room.

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Yep.
The local papers noted how the locker room was rated low on player’s survey.

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Here’s the media session for anyone who wants to watch.

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He said they gave the players options on multiple upgrades and they chose the locker room. I like how they do business.

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And then kick out loyal season ticket holders for selling 3 of their games in a year, but then do backdoor deals with actual ticket scalper groups (Stubhub, NFL Ticket Exchange, Vivid seats, etc.) and get a piece of the pot. It is a quite a nice scam they have going there. Create and contribute to the inflation of prices themselves on the secondary and then blame the loyal fans. Rod Wood is a piece of human garbage.

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Not sure I’m following every angle you’re running here.

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Do you know someone that lost their tickets for selling 3 games? As a current STH, the reps communicate quite a bit about what would put you at risk. I sold one game last year and there was no issues at all.

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yeah, a guy next to me sold 3 games and transferred one other game to his brother and they kicked him out. Not sure what he sold on the TicketExchange was a ton or not. Last I talked to him, he was trying to work with his rep to for a reason why. Not sure it was resolved or not. But I do know my rep told me not to sell more than 3 games.

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Damn, that sucks. Anytime I’m selling I contact first and explain why. They seem to be responsive to that. Where do you sit?

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dumb and dumber harry GIF

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