Before Ford Field and the Silverdome, The Lions Played Here

The Detroit Lions have a storied history, nearing close to 100 years in existence. For much of the 21st century, the Lions have called the 65,000-capacity Ford Field home; before that, they played at the Silverdome for 25 years. These stadiums saw playoff games, a Super Bowl (that didn't include the Lions), a winless season, and even a World Cup.

But the Lions didn't have their own stadium until 1975, and before that, they had to share their field with one of Detroit's other favorite sports teams: the Detroit Tigers.

A Detroit Lions game played at Tigers Stadium. / Detroit Historical Society

Before Tiger Stadium, It Was Briggs Stadium

On October 16th, 1938, Briggs Stadium hosted the Detroit Lions for the first time. A shocking 42,850 fans attended the game, and from then on, the teams shared the stadium for nearly forty years.

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Below, you can see how the stadium looked on game day. Wayne State University has photographs from 1938 showing crews marking the fields, and you can see the early goal posts and how empty the sidelines were in early football. However, a picture only shows so much.

Thanks to the Detroit Historical Society, there is color footage of the Lions playing the Cleveland Browns in 1952. At this point, helmets and internal padding are just becoming plastic and standard across the NFL. Moving forward, Briggs Stadium was renamed Tigers Stadium in 1961.

Detroit Historical Society via YouTube

Eventually, the Lions wanted their own football-only stadium, and the Pontiac Silverdome was opened in 1975. At the time, it was the largest stadium in the NFL with a capacity of 80,311.

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But without those years of success at Briggs/Tigers Stadium, the Lions never would have been in a position to build their only dedicated stadium.