Kelly Kozole, now in her 24th year with the Lions organization, is the Lions Senior Vice President of Commercial Revenue and Venue Strategy. Prior to her current role, Kozole served as Senior Vice President of Revenue from 2022-24 and Senior Vice President of Business Development from 2016-21. She oversees the broadcasting, corporate partnerships, events and box office divisions of the Lions organization. Kozole also manages the relationship with the team's food and beverage partner, Levy Restaurants, and the team's retail and e-commerce partner, Fanatics.
Kozole led the effort for several years on behalf of the Lions organization that resulted in the city of Detroit being named the host of the 2024 NFL Draft. Under Kozole's leadership, she coordinated with the NFL, corporate and civic leaders to create the Detroit NFL Draft vision. Detroit's Draft went on to set an NFL event record for attendance as more than 775,000 people ventured to Detroit over the three days.
Under Kozole's tenure, the Detroit Lions business operations have grown exponentially, with a focus on improving the comprehensive Lions fan experience that has included a rebrand, enhanced gameday and training camp features, the addition of the Detroit Lions Cheerleaders and a $100 million investment in Ford Field. Last season, Kozole led the efforts to align Michigan-based Meijer as the official naming rights partner of the Lions practice facility in Allen Park – now officially known as the Meijer Performance Center. In March of 2025, the Lions and Ford Motor Company extended the stadium naming rights agreement for Ford Field. Ford Field has been the home of the Lions since 2002, making it the second longest tenured naming rights partnership in the NFL.
In 2023, Kozole also led the club's newly established partnership with Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, establishing Coca-Cola as the Official Soft Drink of the Detroit Lions. The partnership marked the first time Coca-Cola beverages would be served to Lions fans at the stadium since being sold at the Pontiac Silverdome.
During Kozole's first year as the Senior Vice President of Business Development, she concentrated on fan feedback to create the DTE Energy Power Hour as an early arrival incentive with food and beverage specials, new activations around the stadium and giveaways, as well as the improvement of fan and traffic communications, all of which have been recognized as an NFL Best Practice.
Kozole led the unveil of the Lions Nike Vapor Untouchable uniforms after a full rebranding that began with the team introducing an updated logo, new logotype and a new proprietary font in 2017. In that same offseason, the team completed an aggressive timeline of updates to The New Ford Field that included larger videoboards, an upgraded sound system, as well as renovated stadium suites and premium club areas, again with the fan experience in mind.
After joining the Detroit Lions in 2002 as Vice President of Events, Kozole has led DLI Entertainment, the team's entertainment division, for the past 17 years. She has secured and promoted many large-scale shows and events at Ford Field, including 10 sold-out Kenny Chesney concerts, three sold-out Taylor Swift concerts, the 2003 Basketbowl, WrestleMania 23, 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Regionals, 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and the 2010 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Frozen Four.
In 2019 Kozole and her husband founded Don't Forget Morgan, a 501 c3 foundation created to help their daughter and other children with the rare disease BPAN. The goal is to raise awareness as well as financial support to begin research to find a cure for this extremely rare genetic disease.
A graduate of Michigan State University, Kozole resides in West Bloomfield, Mich. with her husband and children, Morgan and Connor.
