SOUTHFIELD Mich., Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Lions football comes home for the holidays on Saturday, December 22^nd, and WXYZ-TV is the station to bring you all the action. It's a special Saturday night edition of ESPN's Monday Night Football: Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons, live from Ford Field at 8:30 p.m.

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Pregame coverage kicks off at 7:00 p.m. with "Saturday Night Showdown," a 90-minute special hosted by 7 Action News anchors Stephen Clark and Carolyn Clifford, along with 7 Action Sports Director Tom Leyden, former Lions tight end and NFL commentator Rob Rubick, along with Lions great Herman Moore. It's an early Christmas present for Lions fans everywhere with on-the-field action from NFL analyst Matt Shepard and Lions hall-of-famer Charlie Sanders, plus interviews with key Lions players and coaches, local celebrities and former Lions favorites.

"We are pleased to partner with the Detroit Lions organization and offer this unique holiday opportunity to Lions fans across Metro Detroit," said Ed Fernandez, E.W. Scripps Divisional General Manager and WXYZ Vice-President and General Manager.

This is the second Monday Night Football game broadcast on WXYZ-TV this season as part of a multi-year partnership between the Detroit Lions and WXYZ-TV, the official Detroit Lions station.

Throughout the season, WXYZ is the place for the most extensive Lions coverage, including the Lions pregame show, Ford Lions Report LIVE, every Sunday at 11 a.m. Coverage throughout the year also includes a Lions draft special, live coverage from training camp, preseason games, weekly pregame shows, post-game analysis with Head Coach Jim Schwartz on "Schwartz Sez" every Monday on 7 Action News at 7, and "Inside the Huddle" player interviews every Thursday on 7 Action News.

For more information on the Detroit Lions on WXYZ, go to wxyz.com, facebook and twitter.

WXYZ-TV is owned by E.W. Scripps.  Scripps is a leading media enterprise that embraces its rich history in delivering high-quality journalism through television stations, newspapers and the Scripps Howard News Service, while developing and expanding its digital strategies, including social gaming, for multiple platforms. The company provides community-changing breaking news, story-telling, investigations and interactive outreach at 19 television stations in major markets such as Denver, San Diego, Detroit, Phoenix, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Tampa, and 13 newspaper markets, including Memphis, Knoxville, Naples, Fla., and Corpus Christi, Texas. Since 1941, Scripps has operated the National Spelling Bee, one of America's most-enduring celebrations of academic excellence.

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL), and play their home games at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. The team located to Detroit in 1934 and are the National Football League's fifth oldest franchise. The Detroit Lions finished the 2011 regular season with a 10-6 record and earned a berth in the NFL playoffs. In addition to professional football, the Detroit Lions have a very visible and active community relations role in the Detroit area. With a focus on health and wellness and community revitalization, the Lions have contributed $6.2 million through philanthropic efforts since 1991. For more information visit www.DetroitLions.com.

SOURCE WXYZ-TV