The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit. The franchise was founded in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Portsmouth Spartans, and joined the NFL on July 12, 1930. Amid financial struggles, the franchise was relocated to Detroit in 1934. The team were also renamed the Lions in reference to the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, the Tigers.