As Ford Authority previously reported, Ford Motor Company recently opted to extend its naming rights partnership for Ford Field, home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions, which first began in 2002 when the team relocated to downtown Detroit. The Ford Field naming rights partnership is already the second-longest lasting in the NFL, and it makes perfect sense given the fact that the Ford family owns the Lions, not to mention the fact that The Blue Oval’s world headquarters is located in nearby Dearborn. Thus, it’s no surprise to learn that recent news claiming the Ford family was planning to sell the Detroit Lions to Tesla CEO Elon Musk is, well, completely fake.
According to A to Z Sports, a fake AI-generated story recently emerged claiming that Musk had emerged as the frontrunner in a bid to buy the Detroit Lions from the Ford family, for a whopping $15 billion. That alone should set off some alarm bells, given the fact that the Lions are currently valued at around $4.15 billion, and that figure would have blown away a recent record for a sports franchise sale after the Los Angeles Lakers changed hands for $10 billion.
On top of that, the Lions simply aren’t for sale, no matter the price, it seems. “We’ve been approached about interest in buying the team, but there’s been no serious discussions and the Ford Family plans to own the team and there’s (succession) plans in place,” current owner Sheila Ford Hamp said in a statement.
Of course, this AI-generated fake news story is just the latest of several we’ve seen lately, which is a cautionary tale for folks that tend to believe everything they see on the internet. That list includes claims that Ford is reviving the iconic Model T, as well as the Lincoln Continental, moving all of its production outside of the U.S., and even being sold to Musk, too.
No Comments yet