Town Hall 2012

[dream_017]

The Lions are holding another season ticket holder Town Hall. I know I talk a lot about the first one that they did when Mayhew and Schwartz took over - I was really impressed with it and see little things that they talked about starting to come into play. I will again attend and keep you guys updated on what goes on tonight. If you have any questions you want me to submit let me know and I will see what I can do. Still thinking about what I want to ask.

[dream_017]

Here is a recap of the event


My thoughts:
I am continued to be impressed with the way they communicate with the season ticket holders (and fans in general) since taking over. This is the second set of Town Hall meetings, they have conference calls(I was only able to listen to 1/2 of one), open training camp - general fans, special event training camp - season ticket holders, etc. The first set of Town Halls were pretty small about 100-150 people attended and it was just in the general concourse of Ford Field. This time they we set up on a stage on the field and we sat in the stands covering 3-4 sections (my estimate is about 600-800 people. It was very well run. They had the same set-up for taking questions - you fill it out on the way in and then they sort through them and ask as many as they can. A few are highlighted in the link above. Some of the other things that were mentioned:
Draft - they obviously did not go into specifics, but the overall feeling is that they are not/do not go into the draft with specific positions, but rather players(BPA). The explaination from both Mayhew and Schwartz was that even positions that seems good at a point can turn quickly in a season - if you have talent you can still compete rather than just a body because he happens to play a specific position. Examples given are that even though they went into the season with RB and DL set at points in the season both of those positions were depleated. I tend to agree.

Players - they mentioned that when they took over they completed a 'job description' of each position on the team, a complete rundown of what they expect that player to be - skills, mental, etc. Then they rate each player(draft/free agent) and that is how they target players. For free agent, they also look at cost of that player and look at value - they want the skills at a value.

It sounds like they are close to adding a few more players - they did not go into detail. Mayhew said he only likes to discuss it once the final signature is on paper - but they they should announce them soon. I'm not sure who he was talking about, but it wasn't Graham, Backus, Tulloch, Avril.

Progress - from day one they talked about this and they continue to have the same message - each day get better. They talked about little steps that happened last year - division win, then a winning streak, then a road win, then a road winning streak, then dealing with a winning streak, prime time games, etc.

During the session, they mentioned a number of players, I found it interesting that Suh was only mentioned 1 time during the whole session.


If I think of anything else I'll post it - if you have any questions about it or if they discussed anything let me know and I'll answer.

[dream_017]

Some video clips of the town hall

[moochman]

Thanks Dream, due to a busy off season schedule and the low traffic I have not checked into the Cafe as regularly as I would have liked. Appreciate your updates and insight on the Town Hall. I have to admit to being pretty excited about the direction that our beloved Leos are heading.
Glad to see them resign both Backus and Tullock. A bit disturbing to face the reality that we are way to close to the cap for a team with so many needs. Should be a very interesting draft.