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On Monday, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn met with the media. Tuesday, it was team president Rod Wood’s turn. Wood, like Quinn, is in Arizona for the owners meetings this week.
Wood has been an extremely popular figure in Detroit since becoming the team’s new president late in 2015. Back in January, we polled readers whether they approved of the job he was doing and a whopping 96 percent of fans said they did.
Wood has already done a lot of the team and the city of Detroit, but he’s far from finished. Wood told reporters on Tuesday evening that he is pushing Detroit as a host city for another Super Bowl and the NFL Draft.
Rod Wood doesn't expect to land another Super Bowl at Ford Field, but will try. Will also make pitch for draft to be held at Fox Theater.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) March 29, 2017
The Lions last hosted a Super Bowl in 2006 when Ford Field welcomed the Steelers and Seahawks for Super Bowl XL. As of now, Super Bowl locations are set through 2021, which would make Ford Field 20 years old by the next time it is eligible to be a host city.
The Fox Theater as a host for the NFL Draft is a much more intriguing proposition. The NFL has only recently played around with moving the draft. New York City was the home to the draft since 1965, but in 2015 the NFL moved it to Chicago. The draft stayed their for 2016, but next month’s draft will take place in Philadelphia for the first time. As of now, there is no planned host city for the 2018 draft.
The Fox Theater is no stranger to big events. In the past, the theater has hosted several movie premieres, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and even the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
A chance to host the NFL Draft would be a really cool way to drive people to the city of Detroit and to give Lions fans a chance to attend the draft without leaving the comforts of their own home state.