The Lions have confirmed that a "special announcement" will be made at 7 p.m. tonight on WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit. WXYZ's Tom Leyden broke the news about the announcement last night on Twitter, and the Lions confirmed on their Twitter account this afternoon that it will indeed be taking place.
In addition to confirming the news about the announcement, the Lions also said in their tweet that head coach Jim Schwartz and team president Tom Lewand will be in attendance. Their participation in this announcement opens up the possibility that this could be something more than WXYZ acquiring the preseason TV rights, but I still think that's all this will be about. In fact, the general consensus from people that cover the Lions or are in the local media is that the announcement will be about the preseason TV rights.
I know a lot of you think this could end up being actual major news, but here are three reasons why it almost has to be related to the preseason TV rights:
- If this announcement had anything to do with a player transaction, the news would have leaked out by now, and the Lions don't announce signings or a player being cut with an announcement on TV anyway.
- If this was a major announcement regarding the franchise (i.e. ownership), the news also would have likely leaked out already, and the Lions wouldn't exclusively announce it on one specific news station.
- If this was related to cheerleaders or something of that sort, I could see them announcing it in this fashion, but why choose only WXYZ to break the news? The Lions would want maximum exposure for this (the news, not the cheerleaders; get your mind out of the gutter), so I doubt they would limit it to one news station.
Based on the fact that this announcement is being exclusively made on WXYZ and the buzz about it originated from somebody that works for WXYZ, I would be shocked if it had to do with anything but the preseason TV rights going to Channel 7. Having Schwartz and Lewand there adds more intrigue to the announcement, but I think that is more about helping introduce the partnership between the Lions and WXYZ than anything else.