Inside the Lions' NFC championship game watch party: Fans gather at Ford Field to cheer on Detroit from afar

Jacob Camenker

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Inside the Lions' NFC championship game watch party: Fans gather at Ford Field to cheer on Detroit from afar image

The Lions are on the road for the first time during the 2024 NFL postseason, facing the 49ers in the NFC championship game at Levi's Stadium for the right to go to Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.

Even so, the city of Detroit showed up in full force to cheer on their team at the friendly confines of Ford Field.

The Lions elected to host an NFC championship game watch party at Ford Field after Detroit won each of its first two games of the 2024 playoffs at the venue. The raucous party at the Lions' indoor stadium was shown frequently by Fox during its NFC championship game coverage.

It certainly looked like the Lions faithful were having a good time as their team jumped out to an early lead in San Francisco.

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Here's what to know about Detroit's watch party, including how many are in attendance for the fan event and some scenes from it.

Ford Field NFC championship watch party

The Lions' plans to host the NFC championship game watch party were met enthusiastically by their fans. Tickets to the event sold out just 12 hours after originally being made available to season ticket holders, per the Detroit News.

Once those became available to the general public, they sold out in five hours.

As expected, Lions fans went all-out for the watch party. Many were clad in the outfits and costumes they would normally wear had the Lions been on the field in front of them.

The cheers echoed in the stadium early and often even before the game kicked off just after 6:30 p.m. ET.

And once Jameson Williams scored the opening touchdown to give the Lions a 7-0 lead, the fans joyously erupted in celebration.

It appeared that the entire lower bowl of the watch party was filled with Lions fans. The team didn't open the upper deck for fans, but the cheers could still be easily heard from the stadium's press box.

The watch party gave Fox some nice B-roll as the Lions took an early lead and controlled the first half of the game. The network frequently cut to the stadium to show Detroit's elation with how the team was playing as it tried to make the Super Bowl for the first time.

The Detroit faithful should only get more screen time as the Lions look to earn their first-ever NFC championship game victory.

MORE: Have the Lions ever won a Super Bowl?

Ford Field attendance today

The Lions haven't officially announced an attendance figure for Sunday's NFC championship game watch party. However, based on the ticket sales, the team expected that "the crowd will easily exceed 20,000 fans."

Based on the photos and videos from the event, it appears that the Lions' estimate was about accurate. 

How many seats are in Ford Field?

Ford Field can hold 65,000 to 70,000 fans for football-related events, depending on how the stadium is configured, according to the stadium's official website.

The stadium does not list a capacity for its lower bowl, which appeared to be the only section open for the NFC championship game watch party.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.