The Detroit Lions dream of winning the NFL. Its owner is Sheila Ford Hamp, a descendant of the Ford family. Her business vision has revolutionized the team. The franchise has not won a championship since 1957. It had gone 32 years without a playoff win. Now, after bold firings and leadership changes, the Ford method has taken the Lions to a Super Bowl game.
Sheila Ford Hamp had no shortage of examples of business management at home. Her father was William Clay Ford, grandson of Henry Ford and one of the top leaders of the Ford automobile company; Her mother is Martha Firestone, whose family founded the tire company of the same name.
His last name, however, was no guarantee of immediate success in the NFL. After graduating from Yale University, she tried to get a job in the league, but found the doors closed because she was a woman, Ford Hamp acknowledged in an interview with Fox. Now her method is celebrated in style in the United States and her leadership, an example to follow for franchises with ambitions to relaunch.
Between the Lions and the first Super Bowl in their history (in 1957 the NFL grand final did not yet have this name) only the San Francisco 49ers remain. The Levi’s Stadium game puts the ticket to Las Vegas at stake.
The Fords acquired the Detroit Lions in 1964. Sheila Ford Hamp took over in 2020. The team was mired in a deep crisis. An emergency situation in which the businesswoman saw an opportunity for change.
Within months of taking his position, he fired coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn. He opted for Brad Holmes, a talent detection specialist, as the new director, and for Dan Campbell, a former Lions player and Super Bowl champion with the New Orleans Saints, as the new coach.
The revolution was completed months later, when quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Lions’ first overall pick in 2009, asked to be traded. He ended up in the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Goff, the man who now leads the revelation franchise of the season.
Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell also had a nose for the draft. They selected defensive end Aiden Hutchinson with the number two in 2021 and found a hidden gem in tight end Sam LaPorta, added with the number 35 in 2023. Both players were selected to this season’s Pro Bowl, the All-Star of the NFL.
It may interest you: América will play on the Mexican Stock Exchange
Sheila Ford, with Michigan in her DNA
With their 3.6 billion market value, the Lions occupy the penultimate place among NFL franchises and this Sunday they will play for their ticket to the Super Bowl against the 49ers who are worth almost double, 6 billion dollars, according to the latest classification from Forbes.
But everything indicates that, with the great progress made this season and an ending still to be written, its value will increase significantly this year. For example, last year the Miami Dolphins increased their value by 24% after qualifying for the postseason.
The Lions themselves, who were one step away from reaching the playoffs last year, recorded an increase in their value of 18% in 2023.
Of course, among the growth factors are also television rights contracts, financial management and investments in facilities. For example, the Tennessee Titans, who recently announced their new stadium project, increased their value by 22% compared to 2022. The Las Vegas Raiders, in the midst of the sports boom in the Gaming City, grew by 24%.
Despite more than thirty years of waiting to see the team win a postseason game again, there is no doubt that in Michigan, a state with a great sports tradition, the Lions are still the people’s team.
“The Lions are 100% Michigan’s team. We have an almost love-hate relationship with them, they are like a bad uncle. “They have been a disappointment for so long that now what we are experiencing seems almost unreal,” Jim Brady III, a 25-year-old Lions fan, told EFE, who saw his team win a playoff game for the first time this season. ‘.
“In Michigan you grow up hearing stories about Barry Sanders (legendary Lions running back), a hero who represents the glory days of the franchise. Then we had a period of hope when Matthew Stafford was in his rookie season, but the Lions lacked a winning mentality. Something that coach Dan Campbell has now contributed,” he continued.
In a season in which the Detroit Pistons set the record for consecutive losses in the NBA (28), and in which the NHL’s Red Wings are far from the level they showed in their glory days, all of Michigan is dedicated to the Lions .
The last trophy held in the state in professional sports was the Red Wings’ 2008 Stanley Cup. The Pistons have not won the NBA since 2004, the Tigers of the MLB have not triumphed since 1984. With the Lions two games away from the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Michigan is dreaming again.
With information from EFE.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and don’t miss our content
2024-01-26 15:06:00
#Meet #Sheila #Ford #engine #Detroit #Lions