'I take that as a Detroit pride phenomena;' 'Visit Detroit' CEO said the Lions' playoff run is giving the city's economy a boost

DETROIT (WWJ) - Sunday night's win over the Los Angeles Rams wasn't just a big event for the Lions, officials said it had a huge economic impact on the city as well.

The Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time in over 30 years, beating the Rams 24 to 23, and fans went through a multitude of emotions before the end.

"Yesterday was an electric, exciting and terrifying day, frankly, because when it was coming down to the wire there I was thinking to myself 'we're either going to be super excited or absolutely devastated,'" Claude Molinari, President and CEO of Visit Detroit, told WWJ's Jackie Paige.

The City of Detroit got a big economic boost from the game as well. Molinari said Detroit may have seen $20 million in revenue coming in Sunday.

"A normal  Lions game is worth a 10% occupancy boost for hotels," Molinari said. "A playoff game is more like 15-16%."

Restaurants, bars and stores also had more customers coming through.

Detroit will host another playoff game next Sunday, and Molinari said that means hundreds of people will be working. Ford Field will have about 500 people working, not to mention people working on the television production, employees at businesses downtown and people driving fans to the game or another location.

"From a notoriety standpoint, this is another opportunity to have 50-60 million people on television watching overhead drone shots and in person viewing of Detroit and Southeast Michigan," Molinari said. It's a great benefit for our region."

Detroit will host the 2024 NFL Draft, and Molinari said this is another chance to showcase the area. Officials expect to see hundreds of thousands of people heading into the area ahead of the draft.

"Again, showcasing the city in a way that really I think is going to change the perception that we have nationally and internationally," Molinari said.

Detroit's fans made a lot of noise during the game against the Rams. Molinari said he thinks the fans helped assist the team in their win.

"I take that as a Detroit pride phenomena," Molinari said. "We, as a city, scared the Rams into wasting timeouts that may have cost them the game at the end."

Detroit will play the winner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles game at 3 p.m. on Jan. 21 as they continue through the playoffs.