PHOENIX – Private equity firms and individual investors “regularly” inquire about investing in the Detroit Lions, but outgoing president Rod Wood said the Ford family has no current plans to sell a stake in the team.
“Right now there’s no immediate desire or need,” Wood told the Free Press at the NFL’s annual meeting this week. “They’re aware of what’s out here in the market, they’re aware of what the market values are. Mrs. Ford, still around, she still has a big stake in the team. At her passing, some of this I’m sure will get revisited but right now there’s no urgency. I mean, there’s a lot of people that reach out that would love to invest.”
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At least three NFL teams have sold non-voting minority shares in their franchise to private equity firms since the NFL first allowed the practice in 2024.
Detroit Lions principal owner and chair Sheila Ford Hamp watches practice with president and CEO Rod Wood during minicamp at the Lions headquarters and practice facility in Allen Park on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
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Some owners have used the sales, which are limited to 10% stakes, to tap into the soaring values of their franchises or fund capital-intensive projects.
The Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers are among the teams who’ve taken investments from private equity firms, according to Front Office Sports.
“I mean every private equity firm for sure and occasionally individuals reach out,” Wood said. “More like, ‘If you ever would sell a stake, I’d be interested.’”
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Wood said selling a stake in the franchise would not be something that would bolster the Lions’ cash budget.
The Lions have largely focused on re-signing their young nucleus in recent years and were minor players in free agency this spring because of salary cap and cash constraints as they prepare to sign Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch to contract extensions.
“The cash and the cap we try to manage within the confines of the Lions proper, not what the Ford family can afford or not afford,” he said.
Sticking with Ford Field?
Detroit Lions fans tailgate outside of the Ford Field in downtown Detroit, Sunday, October 8, 2017.
Wood plans to retire as president this summer, after his successor is in place.
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Asked if he would be around to oversee the construction of a new stadium sometime in the future, Wood said, “No, and I don’t think there’ll be one for a long time.”
“I was very worried about the proposed (I-)375 project, not only in terms of the end result, but the four or five years while it was being redone, what that may do to the stadium, and now that that’s been largely resolved we’ll step back and look at the next iteration of Ford Field,” he said. “You’re landlocked in many ways, which is a negative, but it’s where the entire energy of Detroit is. The three stadiums, the restaurants, the bars, the hotels. Moving anyplace else would be really [hard to do].”
Ford Field opened in 2002 and underwent a $100 million renovation in 2017.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions’ Rod Wood on private equity, Ford Field future