Notes: Eastern Market tailgating will be closed for the Detroit Lions’ 2021 season

Detroit Lions fans will have to find a new place to tailgate for the 2021 season. Eastern Market, which has been the hub of Lions pregame festivities since the team moved to downtown Detroit in 2002, announced on Wednesday that they will not be providing services for tailgating this year.

With ample parking day or night, large open spaces for grilling and classic tailgating games, and a location within walking distance of the stadium, Eastern Market was the perfect venue for die-hard Lions fans. But via their Twitter account, the location announced that it does not have the staff capacity to accommodate large crowds this year.

Downtown Detroit does offer some other tailgating venues in nearby parking lots, but none provide the space and tradition that comes with Eastern Market.

Additionally, the Lions offered some other options for parking and tailgating, including a self-serving option of just going inside the stadium for cheap drinks and food specials:

Let’s hope next year COVID-19 is way behind us and we can all go back to some normalcy on gamedays.

• Catching up on some news from last week: former Lions Jake Rudock and Theo Riddick announced their retirements.

• Earlier in camp, we got to see Jared Goff mic’d up at practice. This week, it’s offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn:

• Really cool piece over at The Athletic (subscription required). Calvin Johnson talks about his greatest plays as a Detroit Lion.

• Want some more Day 7 observations from Wednesday’s practice? Check out The Athletic ($), MLive, The Detroit News ($), the Detroit Free Press, or DetroitLions.com.

• A couple of Tigers players dropped by Wednesday’s practice. Go Detroit Cats!

• Tyrell Williams dislocated his finger during Tuesday’s practice but just popped it back in, taped it up, and went back out there. He told MLive about his experience.