DETROIT – Detroit Lions President Rod Wood took a moment to destroy the Green Bay Packers while he was talking about bringing the draft back to Detroit.
Wood was at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday, April 21, 2025, to preview Thursday’s draft. You can watch his full comments here.
He was asked about last year’s turnout when the draft came to Downtown Detroit for the first time.
“I knew that we would put on a great show for the whole country, and we kind of exceeded everybody’s expectations, including mine, with the people who showed up -- even on Saturday, which is kind of a less interesting part of the draft, rounds 4-7,” Wood said. “I don’t know if people remember: It rained in the morning, and we still had 250,000 people show up on Saturday.”
Detroiters shattered all previous attendance records for the draft, and the Lions are already trying to get back on the schedule to host again.
“The draft looked great on TV,” Wood said. “I’m trying to get the NFL to consider bringing it back, because I don’t think they’ll ever top it.”
Thursday’s draft will take place in Green Bay, and Wood couldn’t resist taking a shot at his division rival.
“There’s no way Green Bay will come close,” Wood said. “They’ll finish second, or as I said off stage, third, like they did last year.”
Whoa, shots fired. After spending most of the last half-century in the basement, the Lions have won back-to-back NFC North titles. Last year, they swept the Packers and got the No. 1 seed in the conference with a 15-2 record.
The playoffs didn’t go the way the Lions hoped, but they’re counting on an offseason of better health making a difference.
A couple of Brad Holmes draft gems wouldn’t hurt, either. In the meantime, Wood is still lobbying to bring it back home.
“I’ve mentioned to (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell), ‘How could you ever do better than this?’” Wood said. “I think it’s probably going to be a few years from now. A lot of cities are bidding on it. Green Bay has it this weekend. Pittsburgh has it next year. A lot of the cities that are unlikely to host a Super Bowl, this would be their Super Bowl opportunity. It’ll be competitive, but I know that when they reconsider Detroit, whenever that is, it’s not going to be tough for the league to support bringing it back here.”
