The NFL really does stand for the "No Fun League." It's the only explanation for the shield's refusal to let one of its oldest franchises implement a live mascot.
Even if that team happens to be the Lions.
Detroit coach Dan Campbell appeared on a Monday episode of "Pardon My Take," saying he still wants to have a live lion at the team's facilities. He originally floated the idea shortly after his hiring in 2021.
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He added that owner Sheila Ford Hamp is on board with the idea, but that the team hit a roadblock with league decision-makers.
“Sheila, she had no problem with it, but the league apparently frowns on those types of things," Campbell told "Pardon My Take" (via ProFootballTalk). "I'm not gonna point out (commissioner Roger Goodell) on this, I'm just gonna say the league frowns on that, let’s just say that.”
Campbell didn't expand too much on the daily care required of housing a (presumably) full-grown lion. But he did have some interesting insights as to how it could be used as a motivational factor, telling the Detroit Free Press in 2021 he could walk it on a "big-a— chain" near underperforming positional groups during practice.
Even then, Campbell acknowledged the inherent risk that comes with treating an apex predator — one that can grow up to 8-plus feet long and weigh 330 to 570 pounds — as a glorified pet. He said he could lose an arm, which would be even better because "it would validate what, this is a freaking, this a creature now.”
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Campbell at least can take solace in the fact very few NFL teams employ live animal mascots, most of them avian in nature. Those include the Ravens' live namesake mascots, Rise and Conquer; the Browns' bullmastiff, Swagger Jr.; Thunder III, the Broncos' live Arabian horse; and Taima, the Seahawks' live augur hawk.
Previous live mascots include the Chiefs' pinto horse, Warpaint; and Flipper, a live dolphin who made appearances at Miami home games in the 1960s. None of the league's franchises with feline nicknames — Lions, Panthers, Jaguars and Bengals — has ever employed a live mascot.
That said, perhaps Campbell can point to two college programs to prove a live lion might work in Detroit: LSU has a live tiger on its campus — the current mascot is Mike VII — though it lives in a $3.7 million, 15,000-square foot enclosure. That said, LSU wheels the tiger out near opposing teams' locker rooms during home games (assuming Mike is obliging that day).
Division II program North Alabama also houses a live adult male lion on its campus in Leo III; his sister, Una, died in 2022 after serving as the school's live mascot since 2002.