He didn't offer any firm numbers, but team president Tom Lewand said today the first wave of season-ticket renewals, due last week, was about what the Lions expected.

“I think we saw a little bit more in terms of people putting deposits down rather than paying their full season in March, which was completely understandable,” Lewand said. “We expected that, too. But I'm very encouraged by it.”

The Lions had five blackouts last year, the first five in Ford Field history, and many disgruntled fans said they weren't going to renew their tickets after an 0-16 season and in light of Michigan's faltering economy.

In December, the team announced it was freezing most ticket prices and decreasing the cost of about 4,400 seats.Individual game prices will be announced later this summer.

“Clearly we still have the economy to contend with and that impacts everything,” Lewand said. “But the reality is if we continue to do what we've said we're going to do and continue to make incremental progress and give the fans reasons to believe in the direction of the franchise and then most importantly start out of the gate and win some , I think we'll do what we need to do on the business side.”