Ford Field - Definition and Overview

Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan, home to the Detroit Lions. It is across the street from Comerica Park. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable for to 70,000 for hosting the Super Bowl. The naming rights were paid for by Ford at $40 million over 20 years; the Ford family holds a controlling interest in the company, and Lions owner William Clay Ford, Jr. is a family member.

Ford Field was built simultaneously alongside Comerica Park, opening in 2002, as part of a public project to replace Tiger Stadium and the Pontiac Silverdome. Ford Field cost an estimated $300 million to build, financed largely through public money and the sale of the naming rights.

The artifical FieldTurf was made from recalled Firestone tires.

The seating arrangement is unique among professional American football stadiums, with the club seats and loges located along a single side of the field, and the bulk of the grandstand seats along the other three sides.

On December 13, 2003, Ford Field hosted the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game, as 78,129 people packed the stadium to watch Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky. Kentucky won 79-74.