The Ford Family Bought the Lions For an Insanely Low Price

In 1964, William Clay Ford purchased the Detroit Lions for $4.5 million. While that is a lot of money - unfathomable in many regards- it's a hilariously low purchase price for an NFL franchise in context.

A Pittsburgh Steelers fan account on X, @ Gaige_returns, recently shared a graphic made by Tyler Webb, an NFL media personality, that detailed how much each NFL franchise was bought for most recently.

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Naturally, as the price tags go down, the years get further and further away. It's absurd that the Chicago Bears were bought for $100, even in 1920. Some people today have paychecks worth more than what the Rooney family paid for the Steelers back in 1933.

While the gap between those franchises' initial purchase price and the value of those franchises today is incredibly large, it's worth pointing out too that the Lions are in the conversation as well.

Today, the Detroit Lions are valued at $5.4 billion. For comparison, the Dallas Cowboys are worth $11 billion, the highest-valued franchise in the NFL.

That's a meager 89,900% return on investment for the Ford Family to enjoy.

Of course, that doesn't account for inflation - but with inflation in mind, the Ford Family still made out like bandits by purchasing the franchise. Adjusting for inflation, $4.5 million is worth just $45,769,500 today. That's still less than one percent of the value of the Detroit Lions franchise today.

That's the equivalent of buying a PlayStation 5 for $4.24.

That's certainly enough math for me for the rest of the year—props to the Ford Family. Sure, the family was already wealthy, but that is quite the turnaround for the price they paid.