Lions president Wood eyes big events, Super Bowl

Detroit — Following the $100 million in renovations being done to Ford Field this offseason, the Lions hope to be able to lure more big events to the stadium, potentially even another Super Bowl.

Detroit last hosted a Super Bowl in 2006, and with locations announced through 2021, Lions president Rod Wood is hoping to get involved in the next round of bids, even though he knows it will be a lot of work.

“(It will take) a huge community effort, obviously,” Wood said. “Having sat through the bidding process and seen how that works and the cities that put forth the bids, it’s a competitive market. There are a lot of new stadiums coming down the line, some attractive cities who have hosted Super Bowls in the past that haven’t had one in a while, so it will be a competitive environment, but I wouldn’t rule it out. We’ll see what happens.”

In addition to Super Bowls, Wood said the stadium and city are eager to bid on other big events.

“We’re at the very beginnings of working with some of our partners in the city to form a commission that can focus on bringing things to the city of Detroit,” Wood said. “Just think back to when we had the Super Bowl here 11, 12 years ago now and what’s happened in the city since then.

“We’d love to have another Final Four at some point. And we’ll bid on some other big events, both football and non-football related.”

Since opening its doors in 2002, Ford Field has hosted a Super Bowl (2006), Wrestlemania (2007), Final Four (2009) and Frozen Four (2010).

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter.com: @justin_rogers