Lions' Lewand Talks Traffic Downtown, Sights On Super Bowl

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit is the center of the sports world Monday night, as the city hosts a pennant chase and prime time football.

At 4 p.m. the Tigers host the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park; and at 7 p.m. the Lions host the New York Giants at Ford Field in their first regular season game which will air on Monday Night Football.

Lions team president Tom Lewand says the pre-game will include a tribute to owner William Clay Ford Sr., who died earlier this year.

Talking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Vickie Thomas Monday morning, Lewand said he welcomes fans as well as the gridlock expected downtown before game time.

"These are good problems to have. These are the kinds of things we all hoped to have 15 years ago when Mr. Ford had the vision to move the Lions back downtown right next to the Tigers," Lewand said. "And the Ilitch family and the Ford family joined forces to create a destination downtown. This is the kinda thing that you could only have dreamed of at that time."

"And I'm glad that they did dream of that," he added, "because this is an opportunity for the entire country to look at the great things that are happening in Detroit when they tune in to Monday Night Football tonight."

The Tigers sent out a traffic advisory, warning fans to plan ahead to expect "significantly higher than normal" traffic  in the Foxtown area on Monday — and announcing some parking regulations special to that day; and jury duty in Detroit was postponed "due to the inconvenience of parking." [Details here].

 Lewand encourages fans to plan ahead.... and pack their patience:

"My advice is get down early, come down there's no reason not to get down here if you are coming to the Tiger game come down and have lunch-... and if you are coming down for our game come down early - we open our gates at five o'clock and we'll have $2 hot dogs and $3 dollar beer inside Food Field from 5-6 p.m. " said Lewand. "So you can come down and have dinner and make it real affordable ..." [MORE INFO HERE]

Mission: Win a Super Bowl

Detroit has a new coach in Jim Caldwell and several new players and Lewand says their mission is simple: Win a Super Bowl.

"And we're not shying away from that — that's what we're here to do. That's what the Ford's expect from us and that's what coach Caldwell our team are setting out to do," said Caldwell.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford says he's looking forward to the opening game before an energized crowd.

"I expect it to be loud, I expect it to be a great fun game - great atmosphere ... Monday nights are pretty special, pretty fun," said Stafford. "Our fans do a great job of showing up ... it would be a great way to open the season - it'll be a treat for us as players to go out there and play and our fans appreciate it too."

Cornerback Rashean Mathis echoed the sentiments of Stafford calling Monday night football a big deal.

"It definitely is, Monday night football will never change being a big deal - being that - you're the only team playing if you are on the east or the west coast but you are the only team that is on that time so you take pride in that - the world is watching," said Mathis.

Lions alumni representing the past 50 years: Joe Schmidt (1960s), Charlie Sanders (1970s), Doug English (1980s), Barry Sanders (1990s) and Jason Hanson (2000s) will be on hand according to the Lions website.

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