Rod Wood has been president of the Detroit Lions for exactly 464 days now. Over that span, he's wasted no time rebranding and reshaping the franchise as it moves forward.
His first significant role in influencing the Lions' future was as a member of the organization's internal general manager search committee, which led to the hiring of Bob Quinn. Quinn led the Lions to a playoff appearance in his first season running the football side of the organization.
Wood was a key figure in implementing some of Quinn's first initiatives like upgrading the weight room, locker room, meeting spaces, cafeteria and practice facilities in Allen Park.
Wood was instrumental in securing a home game Week 17 vs. Green Bay, reminding the league that Detroit hadn't had a home game to finish the regular season since 2012.
He reached out to Lions fans shortly after accepting the job and asked them how he could help enhance their gameday experience. The resulting focus groups and feedback he received led to the hiring of cheerleaders, the painting of the end zones and upgrades to the lighting, sound and Wi-Fi systems throughout Ford Field.
This offseason, the team rebranded its logo and will show off new uniforms April 13.
The entire time Wood was overseeing those initiatives, he and his staff were supervising a $100 million investment by the Ford Family into upgrades at Ford Field that include new video boards and several other renovations to be completed in time for the 2017 season.
"Certainly I'm busy," Wood said of his first year on the job at the unveiling of the $100 million Ford Field project. "But it's a busy that's fun and exciting. When you're doing these kinds of things, it's a fun project to work on.
"Certainly in many ways it feels more comfortable than it did a year ago because you know people. You know your peers in the league you know a lot of league officials. There's a lot of people you can talk to to get ideas on what they're doing and learn from them, but you have to keep running to do the right thing here and that's what I'm focused on."
Wood sat through the most recent bidding process last year that awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles. He saw how that process worked in the cities putting forward the bids, and has expressed interest in bidding himself in an attempt to bring the NFL's biggest game, along with other major sporting and non-sporting events, back to Ford Field.
An avid golfer, Wood joked that he doesn't get nearly as much time on the golf course as he used to before his current job. Packing as many initiatives as he has into his first 400-plus days on the job, it's easy to see why.
"We've made a lot of changes both in personnel working here (Ford Field), the football side -- I've talked about that -- and on the business side," Wood said. "Just accelerating what we're doing and listening to our fans."
