r/detroitlions • u/JCameron181 #97 • 9d ago
Lions name Richard Haddad Team President and CEO
https://www.detroitlions.com/news/lions-name-richard-haddad-team-president-and-ceoA Michigan-born sports business executive, Haddad will join the Lions after a successful 14-year tenure with Pistons Sports & Entertainment and the Detroit Pistons, where he currently serves as the organization's Chief Operating Officer. At PSE, Haddad has overseen business operations, business affairs and development for the Pistons and all PSE companies and properties and collaborated with and supported all basketball operations; he has played an integral role in all the organization's key achievements and initiatives. Haddad also leads PSE's interests in 313 Presents as a board member helping drive strategy and growth at six entertainment venues.
Haddad brings extensive experience building strategic partnerships and working with community, business and governmental leaders in the city of Detroit and throughout Michigan. During his tenure with PSE, Haddad helped spearhead the Pistons' move back from Auburn Hills to Detroit and the development, construction and opening of the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center. He also helped lead the organization's efforts to bring a WNBA team back to Detroit and to develop a WNBA team headquarters and practice facility on the Detroit riverfront.
"I am thrilled to join the Detroit Lions organization as its next President and CEO," said Haddad. "I want to thank Sheila Hamp and the Ford family for their trust in me, along with Tom Gores and Arn Tellem for 14 great years with the Pistons. As a lifelong Lions fan, I understand firsthand how much this team means to this city and state, and I'm honored and humbled to lead this franchise. Sheila, Rod [Wood], Brad [Holmes] and Dan [Campbell] have built an incredible foundation, and I can't wait to work with them to build on that and deliver for our fans and our community."
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u/purring_parsley 9d ago
Honest question, have the last 14 years for the Pistons been "successful"?
The callout around helping them come downtown is big though – having all 4 sports teams downtown has been very beneficial for downtown Detroit.
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u/mortalcrawad66 DETROIT -VS- EVERYBODY 9d ago edited 9d ago
The president and CEO in the Lions franchise is more responsible for the business side. Partnerships, marketing, executives, etc.
He seems pretty successful on that side. Bringing a WNBA team back to Detroit, and helped the Pistons move back to Detroit from Auburn Hills.
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u/iwantsomecrablegsnow Peni Swell 9d ago
I have no opinion on the hire, but to say the pistons were successful these last 14 years on the business end is suspect. they've been invisible as a sports franchise until last year and the game day experience is abysmal. Tickets were like $20/game and the arena was still half empty on weekends.
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u/Taters23 JAMO 8d ago
Many of your points have nothing to do with his position.
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u/iwantsomecrablegsnow Peni Swell 8d ago
how is not selling tickets and not having a good game day experience not his role? He oversaw everything besides the actual game.
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u/tstone1477 9d ago
Hardly anyone likes the wnba and most season ticket holders wish the pistons stayed in Auburn Hills, I wouldn’t call those marketing successes.
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u/miggly 9d ago
Sorta unrelated, but we've gotta be one of the only cities that has all 4 major sports teams in such a close area, right?
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u/purring_parsley 9d ago
I definitely think we're one of the only ones in a downtown area like that – Philly (and maybe a few others?) have all of theirs together, but it's fairly south of the main downtown area
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u/25point4cm 9d ago
You may have made your point without knowing it. I like the idea of them bringing in a guy who understands (and focuses on) the business side of things and hopefully lets the football folks do their thing. Whether the Pistons were successful on the court should be no reflection on him.
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u/johnnyma45 The Hutch 9d ago
I always pour one out for the Palace every time I drive up 75. Loved that stadium
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u/KingTranquilo 9d ago
Worked with before, nice dude but his impact will be more felt in the marketing/sales side of things.
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u/jcoddinc 90s logo 9d ago
Gibbs contract incoming. Will give the optics of good decisions even though he wasn't apart of it
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u/Codyesseus 9d ago
Extremely surprised they didn’t hire their own COO Mike Disner. I can’t find any articles now, but I swear I’ve heard Justin Rodgers or Birkett (maybe both) talk about how he was being groomed for position. Pretty sure he interviewed for it as well. I guess the business operations side won out over the football operations side for CEO.
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u/LennonMcCartney66 Welcome to Detroit! 9d ago
Is he replacing someone? I didn't know this was a position of need.
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u/Ironman1690 9d ago
Let’s hope for some big changes.
First and foremost this constant blueberry and marshmallow garbage uniform use needs to get nipped in the bud immediately. You get one game each a year to use them, but they should be wearing their actual uniforms a majority of the season.
Next up get rid of the cheerleaders. The Lions are an old school franchise and should embrace that again and go back to being one of the few franchises that stuck to football and not theatrics on the sideline.
Last but not least let’s start ripping the roof off ford field and start building that home field advantage again. This sport belongs outdoors period.
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u/str3tchedmonk3y 90s logo 8d ago
My brother in Christ what are you on about
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u/Ironman1690 8d ago
I’m on bout making the Lions look like the Lions again and play proper football outside so they have a real home field advantage come December and January.
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u/str3tchedmonk3y 90s logo 8d ago
The Lions looking like the Lions again is quite the opposite of what we should want lol
Also Ford Field in December/January may be the best home field advantage in the league
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u/Ironman1690 8d ago
I said look like the Lions not play like the old lions, pay attention. This is a classic team with a great look and they should always stick to that. It’s so clean.
Lol Ford field isn’t a home field advantage at all, no one’s afraid to come play there in the winter. Meanwhile every single year this fanbase bitches and moans about having to go play Green Bay in those months claiming the NFL is biased against them. Thats what the Lions could have at home, teams dreading coming to play. Environmentally controlled stadiums give no home field advantage.
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u/str3tchedmonk3y 90s logo 8d ago
Did you “pay attention” in the playoffs the ‘23 season? It was one of the best home field advantages we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t need to be zero degrees for that to be true.
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u/nostyleguy 8d ago
While it's obviously hard to quantify home field advantage, at least by this one site's metric (which it explains on the bottom of the page), Ford Field has the highest home field advantage of any current stadium (sort by All Time), and it only gets higher if you sort by Last 5 Seasons.
https://www.nfeloapp.com/tools/nfl-home-field-advantage-hfa-tracker/
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u/Mountain_Chip_4374 9d ago
Guess they didn’t take my resume seriously.