The Lions and Detroit won this huge draft party

detroit — When you look around you, make sure you look everywhere. When you listen, make sure you hear everything.

You will see fans from every city, celebrities from every corner. Outside of the Super Bowl, the draft is the NFL’s most celebrated event and the impact is seen in the streets and written on the walls. Look up and you’ll see Detroit like rarely seen by a captive national audience for three days, starting Thursday night with the first round.

It’s amazing what you can see and what you can do when you are not bound by the past. It’s not just the Lions, who endured decades of torpor to reach the NFC Championship Game, agonizingly close to the franchise’s first Super Bowl. The team’s rebirth, led by people motivated by redemption, is the draw, but the story goes beyond football.

Look up at the 102-year-old Cadillac Square building and see the mural of Lions defensive star Aidan Hutchinson, his right arm raised beneath the message: “Dreams are made here.” Yes, more than cars are made here.

The moment is reflective, the irony is rich. The equipment reached unprecedented heights as the city grew with it, and just 11 years after Detroit’s bankruptcy, construction cranes and towers dominate the skyline. The civic bows are well deserved, as Detroit prepares to welcome up to 300,000 people to every corner of the city’s downtown, centered on Campus Martius Park.

Jared Goff still marvels at what has become his new home, three years after arriving from Los Angeles. He was a drifting quarterback who found a drifting team, guided by new owner Sheila Hamp, new general manager Brad Holmes and new head coach Dan Campbell.

Sitting in an elegant room at the stately 19th-century Detroit Club, Goff chuckled as he described what he tells his friends in California.

“When I explain that the city is in a renaissance, a lot of people don’t realize,” Goff said. “I didn’t realize it when I was in Los Angeles. Last year, I had friends come to visit me almost every week. They love it, they can’t get enough. “They love everything, the fans, the people.”

Goff said the most common question he gets is where to eat downtown, and he has more restaurants to recommend than ever. He has surprised the ubiquitous “Ja-red Goff!” The chants are still echoing and the crowd will have plenty of opportunities Thursday night. The Lions don’t pick until No. 29 (where I assume they’ll take a cornerback), and I’d suggest a healthy “Ja-red Goff!” chorus every time a quarterback is selected.

There’s still plenty of room to grow and build, as the Lions chase the Super Bowl and Detroit expands and evolves. But from the spectacular 3.5-mile RiverWalk, to Dan Gilbert’s rapidly growing Hudson Building, to the spectacularly renovated Michigan Central Station, the symbols are strong.

“We have an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to America,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “And when we do, we hope to be like the Lions and present America with a very different Detroit than what they expected.”

It’s no coincidence that Hamp, who took over the longtime franchise run by his parents, described the team’s revamp with one word: collaboration. The same with the city. From billionaire developer Gilbert to the Ilitch family to Duggan to the behind-the-scenes minds at the Detroit Sports Commission, more is possible.

The Super Bowl was held here in 2006 and was a success, but not necessarily a lasting success. Even now, Detroit has about 6,500 hotel rooms, far below most major cities. The Final Four will arrive in 2027 and the pressure for more events is relentless.

The city’s ambassadors are everywhere, and not just at the highest levels of celebrity. Eminem is visible, valuable and authentically Detroit. No disrespect to Kansas City, which hosted last year’s draft, but the city wasn’t the story, and Taylor Swift is a borrowed ambassador, thanks to her relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Detroit’s true ambassadors are in the streets, and especially in the stands when they invade opponents’ stadiums. Walk around downtown and you’ll find new sights, big and small. For one thing, there must be approximately 300,000 port-a-potties in the parks, apparently one to accommodate each fan. Street closures and barriers make it challenging but safe. The goal was to maintain accessibility and most businesses should attract significant foot traffic.

No one is willing to declare Detroit the most efficient city in the world. Much more needs to be done on housing and education. But it is increasingly acceptable to focus on both the triumphs and the flaws.

“I’ve fallen in love with this place,” said NBC host Mike Tirico, who has lived in the Detroit area since 2000. “It’s so much fun now to have seen Detroit struggle, go through bankruptcy, get back up, get Cut to the knees by COVID and get back up.”

Tirico’s voice reaches millions of people on national broadcasts and he is not shy about promoting where he lives. As he spoke from the seventh floor of the Detroit Athletic Club, the spiers of the Hudson Building were visible through the window above his head.

Images aren’t everything, but when it comes to reinventing and courting investment, they do matter.

“I was in the booth for both home playoff games (at Ford Field), and I remember the TV shot as it got dark, seeing downtown all lit up,” Tirico said. “That was the only moment in the broadcast where I stopped and felt really proud. You’re trying to be professional, but when I saw it, I thought, America, look at this city. It’s beautiful and vibrant and the fans are as passionate as anyone. “They care and they understand.”

Beyond the draft

It took a little time and a lot of money, but business leaders understand it and use sport as a driver and connector. Much progress was made even as the Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons struggled, and the Lions’ plan was just taking shape.

When Little Caesars Arena opened in 2017, Detroit became the only American city with all four professional teams in arenas clustered downtown. In every way – physically, emotionally and historically – the city and its teams are inextricably linked.

Holmes and Campbell understood this immediately and continued to press even when the game regressed, as the team started 4-19-1 under their regime (22-8 since). The Lions’ culture mirrors that of the city (no nonsense, mix over flash) with the standard caveat that there is still a lot of work to be done.

“I was eternally optimistic, even when things were as bad as they could be,” said Goff, who arrived in the Matthew Stafford trade in 2021. “Now we’re here with a good team and a good opportunity to make some noise. But to think we’re just going to show up and get back to the NFC Championship Game is foolish. Our entire division is coming after us.”

Ultimately, the Lions and the city are worth pursuing. Detroit fell behind for a variety of reasons, including the auto industry’s economic woes and division in community leadership. But there is one thing that has never changed: the emotional connection to sports.

It’s seen in big ways, with crowds of Lions fans cheering and sobbing at games, and in small ways, too. Back at the Detroit Club, Goff choked back tears as he presented a retirement gift to Lions security director Elton Moore, who befriended the admittedly shaken quarterback after the trade to Detroit.

Michael Robinson, 76, gulped as he was honored as one of the team’s super fans. He grew up in Detroit, but now lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and drives the 500 miles to every Lions home game. He was there for the first game of 2022 against the Eagles and didn’t feel well, but stayed until the end. The Marine Corps veteran left in an ambulance with dangerous sepsis due to a leg infection.

He has attended Lions home games for 66 years, and after Goff presented him with his award, he could barely express himself.

“It blew me away,” Robinson said. “I feel like a kid in a candy store. “I never, ever dreamed this would happen to me.”

Goff and Jared Jewelers also presented donations to the FATE program, which promotes mentoring and leadership development. The rays on the faces of the dozen kids on stage, taking photos with the quarterback, were priceless.

That’s part of what a lasting legacy can be. In its address to the NFL, the Detroit Sports Commission said it would donate $1 million to support two community causes: youth sports and literacy.

“The economic impact is important, but so is the community impact,” said Dave Beachnau, executive director of the commission. “We wanted the legacy to be sustainable and for residents and children to be part of these great events. Once the circus folds up its tents and leaves town, what’s left?

Look up, look down, look around you. It’s a question Detroit is happy to answer and confident in answering.

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@bobwojnowski