Rod Wood is an American businessman and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive. He is currently the president for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

Professional career

Previous to being hired as the president of the Detroit Lions, Wood was a close associate of the

Ford family The Ford family is an American family from the U.S. state of Michigan. They are best known for their control of the Ford Motor Company automobile manufacturer which was originally founded by Henry Ford in the early Twentieth century. Henry's gra ...

that owns the team, and worked as the president and CEO of the Ford Estates.

Detroit Lions

Wood was signed with the

as a team president on Nov 19, 2015. Wood attended

University of Michigan-Flint A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and the ABA Graduate School of Commercial Banking. On accepting the appointment, Wood stated that he was "not qualified to run any other NFL team", a statement that led some critics of his hiring to label him as unqualified for the job of running the Lions. Wood has refused to give up the Detroit Lions's traditional Thanksgiving game despite pressure from other NFL teams. Under Wood's leadership and direction, the Lions and the City of Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL Draft.

Stadium Upgrade

In February 2017, Wood unveiled plans for the first major renovation to the Detroit Lions’ home stadium, Ford Field, since it opened in 2002. The $100 million investment incorporated a complete overhaul of the audio and visual experience that features new videoboards as well as a new state-of-the-art sound system. The stadium’s premium spaces also received a complete makeover with expanded offerings to fans. Wood has also discussed adding a retractable roof to the field to attract MLS teams to play there. An entire new playing surface was installed at Ford Field in spring 2023.

References

External links

ProfileNew JobTwitterStadium Renovations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Rod Living people 1950s births American sports executives and administrators Detroit Lions executives NFL team presidents American chief executives University of Michigan alumni