Hotels for Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints

An NFL Sunday between two NFC North Central rivals, with the home crowd out in force early in the season. Inside, the noise builds fast on third downs, and the roof keeps every bit of it in. September games like this carry early-season stakes, with both rosters still fresh and division positioning up for grabs.

The franchise began in 1930 as the Portsmouth Spartans in Ohio before relocating to Detroit in 1934, taking the Lions name to sit alongside the baseball Tigers as another powerful cat, borrowing some of that team's championship shine. Detroit won four NFL titles in the pre-Super Bowl era, the last in 1957, but has never reached a Super Bowl since the game began in 1967 — the longest such drought among the NFL's original franchises.

Running back Barry Sanders, whose decade of highlight-reel runs in the 1990s came without a deep playoff run to match, is the player most associated with the modern Lions. The team has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game every year since 1934.

The climate-controlled home of the Detroit Lions, Ford Field sits in the heart of downtown Detroit beside Little Caesars Arena, surrounded by a city in confident revival. Greektown, Midtown's bars and Eastern Market are all within walking distance. The QLine streetcar and DDOT buses serve the area, and parking is plentiful nearby.

Booking a room downtown puts Detroit's remarkable restaurant scene, art deco architecture and renewed nightlife right on your doorstep before and after the game.