'The tradition continues': USFL brings the Michigan Panthers home

Detroit — On a cold, snowy Thursday morning in downtown Detroit, the vibe inside Ford Field was hot, particularly in the atrium, where cheerleaders cheered, a mascot mugged, a hype video played, and a former Super Bowl champion promised to deliver quality football.

Way down below, on the Ford Field field, workers were starting the process of removing the 20-year-old stadium's artificial turf, in preparation for the installation of a state-of-the-art synthetic playing surface this winter.

That project is scheduled to be completed within weeks, and the Lions won't be the first football players to try it out.

The Michigan Panthers of the second-year United States Football League are moving into Ford Field for the 2023 season, which starts in April, the league officially announced Thursday morning in a glitzy hoopla affair that featured all of the major players in bringing a fifth professional sports franchise — and actually a sixth, as the Philadelphia Stars also will call the Detroit hub home — to downtown Detroit. The Panthers are a popular charter member of the old USFL from back in the 1980s, and league officials are hopeful they'll help carry the banner for the new league, which despite the name, mascots and color schemes isn't affiliated with the old league, even if tapping into fans' nostalgia is an acknowledged keystone for any long-term success.

Michigan and Philadelphia both will open the 2023 season with two games on the road, before playing their first games at Ford Field on Sunday, April 30, as the Tigers play the same day, right across the street.

"Detroit football fans were not ready for this season to be over," Duggan quipped. "The way the Lions were going at the end with that turnaround, we wanted more, and now we are gonna have more football this April.

"We are very excited to have the team here in the city of Detroit."

Forty years ago this summer, the Panthers, who played at the old Pontiac Silverdome along with the Lions — though there was hardly the friendly if unofficial partnership between the USFL and the NFL that we seem to be seeing today — and won the USFL's inaugural championship, beating the Philadelphia Stars. Now, for at least one year, the old rivals will share a hub, with players staying in Ann Arbor during training camp in March, working out and practicing at Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, and playing at Ford Field in Detroit.

Detroit is the fourth and final hub announced for the 2023 season, after all eight teams played the inaugural regular season in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham will host a hub with New Orleans, Memphis will host a hub with Houston, and Canton, Ohio, will host a hub featuring teams from Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

The original plan was to do Year 1 in one place to be fiscally responsible, before rolling out into all eight markets for Year 2. Again with the focus on money, the league decided to split the difference, believing the slow, methodical buildup will be key toward a successful product for years to come.

Detroit is the only of the four hubs that also has four major professional sports franchises. Memphis (NBA's Grizzlies) is the only other hub that has one major professional sports franchise.

The cult following of the Panthers — who only lasted two years, but had the benefit of a superstar player in former Michigan receiver Anthony Carter, and once drew more than 60,000 fans to a playoff game — is a big reason the USFL has come back to the area.

"That's the reason why we chose to acquire the USFL branding, rather than start something from scratch," said Eric Shanks, CEO of Fox Sports, the league's majority owner which invested an initial commitment of $150 million over three years. "You're starting on second base. I mean, you see here today, whether you're over 40 or not, if you're a football fan here in this market, you've heard of the Panthers. You either have a real attraction to them, or just a casual acknowledgement of knowing it.

"But it feels like a Detroit brand, right? And so being able to put the football organization here together, and really kind of starting on second base, it's something we're looking forward to.

"We just can't wait to get started."

Thursday's announcement included Duggan, Shanks, Fox Sports broadcaster Curt Menefee and USFL executive vice president of football operations Daryl "Moose" Johnston, who was a three-time Super Bowl champion during his playing days with the Dallas Cowboys.

Other dignitaries in attendance included Arn Tellem, vice chairman of the Detroit Pistons who in that role has become an ambassador for the city of Detroit; Wayne County executive Warren Evans; and Mark Hollis, former Michigan State athletic director who now works closely with Dan Gilbert's Rocket companies, who provided a significant push toward making this move happen. Former Michigan Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, a member of the Fox Sports TV crew, was scheduled to attend, but the Wednesday snowstorm prevented travels from Miami. Dignitaries on Thursday also cited support from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Mary Sheffield and the Detroit City Council, Lions president and CEO Rod Wood, and Pistons owner Tom Gores.

The arrival of the Panthers, even if for just five home games a season (and five for the Stars), is the latest sign from the world of sports that Detroit is a destination — following a devastating bankruptcy, and, more recently the coronavirus pandemic. Detroit recently was awarded the 2024 NFL Draft and 2027 Final Four, and the area was awarded a slew of United States Golf Association tournaments, including U.S. Opens and U.S. Women's Opens.

"Talk about rebirth, I think it fits perfectly for what's going on here," said Menefee, who's been coming to Detroit for years, mostly to work Lions games. "I can see the difference.

"When you come and visit from time to time, you can see Detroit has been reborn, downtown Detroit has been reborn, and I think sports plays a large part of it.

"Not only does it help from a business standpoint, but it helps from a community standpoint, because (sports) unifies people. It's something to rally around."

There are no guarantees for the Panthers and the USFL beyond the 2023 season, but the fact they've even made it out of the 2022 calendar year is a positive sign. The USFL is the first major spring pro football league to finish its inaugural season in 40 years, since the old USFL. In between, many leagues have tried, and have failed to get out of Year 1, included, most recently, the XFL and AAF. The XFL, since changing ownership from Vince McMahon to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, will try again this spring.

The USFL has some things going for it, starting with a major commitment from its majority owner, Fox Sports, which also brings major TV coverage, on Fox's and NBC's stable of channels. Fox Sports also brought big bucks, allowing the league a reasonable amount of time to start generating revenues, through advertisers, ticket sales and memorabilia. The clock on profitability has started, Johnston acknowledged.

And Detroit — good or bad — figures to have a big say in how things turned out. Johnston told The News this week he's hoping the Panthers can draw some 15,000 fans a game. If that number is hit, ticket sales could be a fourth of that, with children younger than 15 getting in free with a ticketed adult. Ticket prices for Detroit games haven't been set yet, but figure to be in the range of what Birmingham was last year, mostly between $10 and $20. It's an affordable entertainment option for families, Johnston said; Ford Field, though, will set concession prices.

There will be kids' activities, player outreach in the communities, and the rules are a little funky, in a good way. (For starters, they can pick up bad penalty flags from the booth).

More than anything, though, Johnston knows the USFL only has one surefire sales pitch: Good football. In this year's NFL, 13 USFL alums finished the season on 53-man roster, 52 got invited to training camps and nearly 200 had workouts with teams. The biggest success story was Dallas Cowboys kick return KaVontae Turpin, who was named All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl, after winning MVP of the inaugural season of the USFL.

"People are gonna have an interest, they're gonna come out, they're gonna give you a chance," Johnston said. "And then we've gotta be able to get a hook."

The Michigan Panthers hooked Duggan back in the 1980s, back when he was a student at Michigan the same time as Carter. He eagerly followed Carter to the Michigan Panthers, with whom he caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Bobby Herbert late in the 24-22 championship-game victory over Philadelphia.

"I was a huge Anthony Carter fan, and he brought a lot of Panthers fans those first couple years in the league," said Duggan, while holding a USFL football. "Folks my age remember the Michigan Panthers, and have good memories of that first championship season.

"And the tradition continues."

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984