History of the Detroit Lions

The history of the Detroit Lions, a professional American football franchise based in Detroit, dates back to 1928 when they played in Portsmouth, Ohio as the Spartans. In 2021, they will play their 92nd season, continuing to be one of the National Football League's oldest franchises. Move to Detroit and early success In 1934, George A. Richards, a radio executive who owned WJR, a radio affiliate of the NBC Blue Network , purchased the Portsmouth Spartans for $8,000 and moved the team to Detroit, renaming them the Detroit Lions. Richards picked the name because he intended to put together a team that would be the "king of the NFL," much like the lion was the king of the jungle. He also wanted a tie-in to baseball's Detroit Tigers. In their inaugural season in Detroit several months later, the Lions started off with a 10-game win streak that included seven shutouts. However, they lost the last three games of the season to the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears and finished in second place behind the Bears in the Western Division, once again coming up short to their rivals. That same year, Richards negotiated an agreement with NBC to carry his Thanksgiving games live across all of the network's affiliated stations. Since then, the tradition of the Lions playing on Thanksgiving has continued uninterrupted. In 1935, Dutch Clark led the NFL with 55 points, while Ernie Caddel led the league with 621 yards as they carried the Lions to a 7–3–2 record, which was first in the Western Division. As a result, they advanced to the 1935 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants. The game was played on December 15, 1935 in front of 15,000 fans in Detroit. The Lions won the game 26–7 to secure the franchise's first World Championship, which was also a part of Detroit's City of Champions for the 1935–36 sports season. The Detroit Tigers won the 1935 World Series, while the Detroit Red Wings captured the 1936 Stanley Cup.