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Detroit<strong>lions</strong>.com attracted 4.7 million unique visitors during that
fi ve-month span, a 71.1 percent increase compared to the 2010
season (2.9 million). Despite the NFL’s labor situation during the
off season, Detroit<strong>lions</strong>.com still generated a 36.0 percent increase
in unique visitors in 2011 (6.2 million) over 2010 (4.6 million). There
were more unique visitors for the fi nal fi ve months of 2011 than the
entire 2010 calendar year.
In just two years, the number of unique visitors to Detroit<strong>lions</strong>.
com during the regular season (September-December) has jumped
153-percent (3.9 million in 2011 and 1.6 million in 2009).
Extending the team’s outreach to fans also occurs through various
social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, with over 900,000
fans currently engaged through those two social networks.
In 2009, Lewand completed two major initiatives that continue to
help transform the Lions’ business operations. The Lions unveiled a
new comprehensive brand that launched changes to the team’s logo
and uniforms, a new team logotype and font and streamlined branding
elements. The evolution of the Lions’ brand is the most complete and
all-encompassing modifi cation in franchise history. The new brand now
extends beyond the logo on the helmet and presents a consistent
visual identity in new, versatile and distinctive ways.
Additionally that year, the team partnered with MainGate on a 10year
exclusive retail and merchandising agreement. The partnership
focuses on providing greater service to Lions fans and consumers,
including significant improvements to the organization’s retail
operations. Headlining the overhaul was the revamped team store
at Ford Field, now known as “Lions Pro Shop,” and the relaunch of
the Lions’ online store, Detroit<strong>lions</strong>store.com.
FORD FIELD PHENOMENON
Under Lewand’s guidance and direction, Ford Field has become
the crown jewel of downtown Detroit and serves as a cornerstone in
the city’s urban renewal and revitalization eff orts. The facility opened
to rave reviews in 2002, with the publisher of the Detroit Free Press
stating that Ford Field “tells [Detroiters] who we are and suggests
what we can be. Now it’s up to the rest of us to create a downtown
and a city that matches the vision Ford Field realizes.”
Few venues, considering space, amenities and operations, have
the fl exibility to host and execute the variety of large-scale events
as does Ford Field.
Lewand leads in the development of these events at Ford Field,
including college football, MHSAA high school football, concerts,
motorsports and various trade shows. Few venues in the U.S. host
as many football events of all levels as does Ford Field, fi lling
virtually every weekend in the Fall. In any given year, approximately
14 high school, college and NFL games are played at Ford Field from
Thanksgiving Day through December.
For the past 10 years, Ford Field has been the home to the Little
Caesars Bowl, and for the MAC Football Championship Game for the
past eight years as well.
In 2010, Ford Field and the Lions hosted the New York Giants and
Minnesota Vikings on a rescheduled Monday Night Game, December
13, a day a er the Lions defeated the eventual Super Bowl Champion
Green Bay Packers, 10-3, with just less than 20 hours to prepare for
the relocated NFL game.
SUPER BOWL XL
Ford Field dazzled in 2006 when the city of Detroit hosted Super
Bowl XL. Lewand served as the point person for the Lions and Ford
Field on the Host Committee for Super Bowl XL, and he was among
the key fi gures leading the city’s hosting of the game and events
surrounding Super Bowl XL, which was widely-acclaimed as successful
and critical to Detroit’s future growth. Super Bowl XL injected a $260
million economic boost to the Metro Detroit region.
OTHER SHINING MOMENTS
Behind Lewand’s leadership, Ford Field once again stepped to
the forefront in April 2009 as Detroit, for the fi rst time, hosted the
NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four. The championship culminated six
years of planning, including Lewand representing the organization
in a partnership with the NCAA to present the Final Four in a
groundbreaking manner that has set the standard for all future sites.
The event featured a center-stadium confi guration that utilized
the entire stadium seating structure along with customized risers.
Ford Field broke long-standing records, including: attendance for
Final Four Friday (nearly 30,000), the National Semifi nals (72,456)
and National Championship game (72,992). Overall, a record 145,378
fans attended the Final Four. By hosting the Final Four, Ford Field was
the centerpiece for a weekend that had an estimated $30-50 million
impact on the city of Detroit. Attendance records were not only set
EXECUTIVES & COACHING
Detroit<strong>lions</strong>.com
Media.Detroit<strong>lions</strong>.com
inside Ford Field, but the ancillary events, such as Hoops City, set
their own records as well. All of these events generated a tremendous
opportunity for both residents and visitors to enjoy downtown Detroit
over a fi ve-day period.
Paced by Lewand’s leadership, the organization followed up that
tremendous accomplishment with the highly successful hosting of the
2010 Men’s Hockey Frozen Four. Like the basketball championship,
Ford Field allowed the NCAA to elevate one of its marquee events to
even greater heights. For the fi rst time, the 2010 Frozen Four was held
in a large-stadium venue with the portable ice confi guration set-up
used in the NHL’s annual Winter Classic. The championship garnered
record crowds (34,954 for the National Semifi nals and 37,592 for the
National Championship) that not only set NCAA Frozen Four records
but world indoor hockey records as well.
Ford Field became the fi rst venue to host the Men’s Final Four
and the Men’s Frozen Four in back-to-back years.
In April 2007 Ford Field hosted WWE’s Wrestlemania 23 that set
a new Ford Field all-events attendance record (80,103) and had a $25
million impact on the Metro Detroit area.
In June 2011, Ford Field hosted the opening round of the 2011
CONCACAF Gold Cup with two soccer matches between Panama and
Guadeloupe and the United State and Canada. The opening round
match was the fi rst soccer game played by the U.S. Men’s National
Team in the Metro Detroit area since the World Cup in 1994, and it
drew the largest crowd for a U.S. match in the Gold Cup opening
round since 2003.
A “LEADER AND BEST”
Lewand possesses a strong educational background, having
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan
in 1991, and completing both his Juris Doctor at the University
of Michigan Law School and his Master’s degree in business
administration from the University of Michigan Business School
in 1996. Lewand aided the Michigan football program in various
capacities on a volunteer basis while attending the school. He also
worked for the Lions on a part-time basis while completing work on
his graduate degrees.
In 1991, Lewand served as an environmental advisor for the
Governor of Indiana, Evan Bayh. Following a year in that position, he
entered graduate school at Michigan. He spent time working for the
law fi rm of Dickinson Wright in Detroit, and the Chicago law fi rm of
Kirkland and Ellis. In the summer of 1993, he worked in the Offi ce of
the White House Counsel for Presidential Personnel.
Lewand’s family history is entrenched in the Detroit area
community. His father, F. Thomas Lewand, works as an attorney and
was both the Chief of Staff for former Governor James Blanchard and
the Chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party. His late grandfather,
Joseph B. Sullivan, was a judge in the Michigan Court of Appeals and
was the deputy mayor of Detroit in the 1960s.
OFF THE FIELD
Lewand is active in the community, acting as Past Chairman of
the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau and serving on the
Boards of Directors of the Detroit Zoological Society, the Downtown
Detroit Partnership, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and
the Parade Company.
In a collaborative eff ort to reduce and prevent youth sports
concussions, Lewand represents the Lions and the organization’s
work with Michigan legislators, the NFL and various youth sports
organizations to enact laws that would provide an increase in
concussion education and awareness and a medical protocol for young
athletes to return to action.
Lewand also is on the Corporate Advisory Board for the University
of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Lewand was named as one of
Crain’s Detroit Business “40 Under 40” in 1998, which honored and
recognized 40 top business people in the Detroit area under the age
of 40. Lewand has also been recognized nationally twice, in 2003 and
2005, by the Sports Business Journal as one of the top “40 under 40”
sports executives in the United States.
He and his wife, Suzanne, have four daughters: Cayleigh, Paige,
Shannon and Erin.