We don't know how the Detroit Lions will perform at Ford Field this year, but there's little doubt that the performance of the building trades and their employers has brought forth an absolute gem.

With the south side of the stadium built into the façade of the 80-year-old Hudson's warehouse, and with an eight-story glass atrium built into one of the corners, Ford Field will be like no other stadium in the NFL.

Matt Millen, a network football television analyst before he became the Lions team president, said he has been to every NFL football stadium. "I've had a great vantage point over the last 10 years and I've seen them all," he said. "But Detroit's is going to be better than all of them. This stadium will be the model they all try to copy."

The Lions played their final game in the Pontiac Silverdome last year, and that facility was typical of stadiums built during the 1960s and 70s: it was placed in a field or next to a freeway and surrounded by parking lots. The NFL is pushing for teams to do what the Lions are doing: integrate stadiums into downtowns and make them part of their environment.

Roger Goodell, executive vice-president of the NFL in New York, told the Detroit News, "We are getting away from the cookie-cutter approach to new stadiums where you have a bowl of seats and not much else. We want new stadiums to embrace the surrounding neighborhoods, especially in urban areas where you can have a positive impact in terms of new businesses coming in. There is no better example of this than Ford Field."

Construction is progressing rapidly on the new $300 million, 65,000-seat stadium under the direction of general contractor Hunt Jenkins, White/Olson LLC. The team will play its first game on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 12:30 p.m. It will be a preseason contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to the Detroit Lions, the stadium will feature:

• The use of FieldTurf, which will make the Lions stadium the second in the NFL to have this advanced playing surface. The playing surface will sit atop 9 inches of concrete and have soft, synthetic grass blades atop a patented mixture of sand and rubber infill. The rubber will be taken from ground-up, recalled Firestone tires.
• A family fun zone in the northwest corner of the stadium, with a playground and activities geared to children. No alcohol or profanity will be allowed in the area. Kids and their parents can take a turn at diving over a goal line or throwing a football at selected targets.
• 130 luxury suites, located on three levels in the 700,000 square-foot warehouse and along the northern side of the stadium. All of the suites, priced from $75,000 to $225,000, have reportedly been sold.
• Adams Street was shut down and converted into an enclosed pedestrian lane between Brush and St. Antoine. The stadium will be on one side of the lane and bars and eateries will be on the other.

THE NEW HOME of the Detroit Lions incorporates the old, gutted Hudson's warehouse.

BRICK PAVERS in the Ford Field atrium are installed by Nyaunu-wi Travis and Wally Bierkamp of Tile Masons Local 32 and Empire Tile.