Lions President Tom Lewand on Friday said that the team “will not raise ticket prices for 2013, after last year’s disappointing 4-12 season,” according to Dave Birkett of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. Lewand said that invoices “already have gone out to season-ticket holders.” The Lions “raised ticket prices last year for the first time since after the 2007 season” (FREEP.com, 2/15). In Detroit, Chris McCosky noted Lewand was “not willing to get into specifics of the team's salary cap strategy or free agent priorities and targets, but rest assured, there is a plan in place.” The Lions currently have “between $3 million and $6 million in cap space.” Lions GM Martin Mayhew said that the team has “begun working on a contract extension with quarterback Matthew Stafford, which could save the team at least another $10 million.” Lewand indicated that the Lions “could be active shoppers in free agency,” which begins March 9 (DETROIT NEWS, 2/15). Meanwhile, Lewand on Friday said that he would “support a community effort to bring the Super Bowl back to Detroit for a third time if the region ever made an attempt.” He also was asked if Ford Field is “interested in hosting the NCAA football playoffs.” Lewand: “There’s a lot going on in the NCAA right now and we’ve had a lot of different conversations with different people around the college football landscape. But there are so many moving pieces right now that it’s hard to pinpoint anything, and just as I’m not inclined to get into the prediction business on where a contract negotiation may take us, I’m certainly not inclined to get into the prediction business on where the NCAA bowl landscape is going to go” (FREEP.com, 2/15).
