The deal builds off the team's 10-year sponsor agreement with MGM Grand Detroit, signed in 2015BETMGM
The Lions have "signed a deal with BetMGM to be the franchise's first sports betting sponsor," according to Kurt Nagl of CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS. BetMGM "will be presenting sponsor of Lions Bingo, the team's gaming platform that has operated without a gambling component." New this season, fans using the platform can "win cash prizes and future all-expenses paid trips to MGM properties across the country." The deal also comes with "signage at Ford Field, broadcast programming and digital assets." The deal "builds off the team's 10-year sponsor agreement with MGM Grand Detroit, signed in 2015." The casino-hotel has "naming rights to a premium lounge near the Lions locker room and field entrance tunnel." Financial terms of the latest deal "were not disclosed" (CRAINSDETROIT.com, 9/3).
CUTOUT CRAZE: In Detroit, Dave Birkett noted the Lions "will sell cutouts of fans for home games this fall that will be placed in the lower bowl of Ford Field." Cutouts can be purchased "on a full-season or individual game basis ... and all proceeds go to Detroit Lions Charities." The cutouts cost $125 for season-ticket holders or $150 for non-ticket holders for the season (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 9/3). In Detroit, Justin Rogers notes the team is following MLB's lead. The team also has single-game options for $50, with "funds being designated for specific causes such as Henry Ford Health System's Game on Cancer initiative and the Salute to Service game, benefiting military families through the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors." One fan per game can pay $1,000 to have the opportunity to "have their cutout seated near the Lions tunnel," next to a cutout of HOFer Barry Sanders (DETROIT NEWS, 9/3).
GETTING ACCLIMATED: In Michigan, Benjamin Raven noted the Lions last Thursday practiced inside of a mostly empty Ford Field in an attempt to "get used to the strange atmosphere, and new coronavirus procedures and gameday operations." Ford Field "looked mostly the same, albeit for some extra Plexiglas and solid blue painted end zones." The team said that it has "added a new air filtration system, more than 250 sanitizer stations and glass dividers at every point of sale inside Ford Field" (MLIVE.com, 9/2).
