ford field

Location 2000 Brush Street

Detroit, Michigan 48226 Broke ground November 16, 1999 Opened August 24, 2002 Owner Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority Operator Detroit Lions Surface FieldTurf Construction cost $430 million Architect SHG, Inc.

Rossetti Architects

Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc. Capacity 65,000 (for football)

78,000 (for basketball)

80,103 (WrestleMania 23) Tenants Detroit Lions (NFL) (2002-present)

Motor City Bowl (2002-present)

Super Bowl (NFL) (2006[1])

WrestleMania 23 (WWE) 2007

NCAA Men's Division I Final Four (2009)

Ford Field is an indoor football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan that is the current home field of the NFL's Detroit Lions. It is across the street from Comerica Park. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable up to 70,000 for football and 80,000 for basketball. The naming rights were paid for by Ford at $40 million over 20 years; the Ford family (including Lions owner William Clay Ford, Sr.) holds a controlling interest in the company. Contents [hide] 1 Design 2 Major events 3 Photo gallery 4 References and further reading 5 External links 6 References //

Design

Ford Field was originally planned to be an outdoor stadium, simultaneously with Comerica Park, which opened in April 2000, as part of a public project to replace Tiger Stadium and the Pontiac Silverdome. Ford Field was constructed after Comerica Park, opening in 2002. It cost an estimated $430 million to build, financed largely through public money and the sale of the naming rights.

The stadium's design incorporates a six-story former Hudson's warehouse, which had stood since the 1920s. Architecturally, the stadium shares a likeness with its sister stadium Ford Center, a multipurpose sports/concert arena located in downtown Oklahoma City. Hammes Company, a real estate development company in Brookfield, Wisconsin, developed the new stadium, as well as the warehouse.[2]

The presence of the warehouse allows for a seating arrangement that was unique among professional American football stadiums at the time of Ford Field's opening. The majority of suites at Ford Field are located in the Hudson Warehouse along the stadium's southern sideline, as are the lounges that serve the premium club seats on that side of the field. The bulk of the grandstand seats are located along the northern sideline and both endlines, with gaps in the stadium's upper half at the southwest and southeast corners. The upper deck on the stadium's northern sideline also contains one level of suites and a smaller section of club seating. A similar design was implemented at the renovated Soldier Field, albeit with the use of a new structure (as opposed to an existing building) to house four levels of suites.

Unlike most indoor stadiums, Ford Field allows a large amount of natural light to reach the FieldTurf field, thanks to immense skylights and large glass windows at the open corners. The windows along the ceiling are frosted