Freep.com - Sports and pizza boss Michael Ilitch said today he wants to buy the Detroit Pistons basketball team and move them to a new arena in downtown Detroit. The Ilitch family already owns the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings.
Ilitch has finally gone public and claimed he would like to purchase the Pistons and move them downtown. The hold up so far hasn't been the fact that the Pistons are worth 400 plus million, because in reality he could probably buy them for 250 million, but rather the fact that they have a perfectly suitable stadium in Auburn Hills, and Ilitch wants to spend his money to rejuvenate downtown Detroit.
Buying the Pistons and moving them downtown would mean that the Palace would essentially be relegated to nothing more than a concert venue and another stadium would need to be built downtown. The timing of building another downtown stadium is actually pretty good considering that Joe Louis Arena is in shambles and a joint basketball/hockey facility is totally feasible. So the main problem here is that Ms. Davidson, who owns the Pistons will not sell the team without including Palace Entertainment in the deal. And Palace Entertainment includes the The Palace of Auburn Hills itself.
Does Ilitch really want to be financially responsible for building a multi-sport facility downtown and also keeping up a concert venue in Auburn Hills? For the sake of the Pistons, I hope he does. Because after the death of Bill Davidson, we've been treading water with no sign of being able to keep our head above water. Some cash flow from Ilitch might be just what the Pistons need to bring back the days of the "Bad Boys".
I Like this idea a lot. But wasn't the whole reason for trading Granderson and E. Jackson to save on a couple million on salary for the Tigers? Although I believe we made better on the those trades now that A. Jackson turned out sweet. Is droppin $400 million going to hurt our cause with the Tigers that obviously need some help next year?
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteThat is a completely legitimate concern, and one I have myself. The only thing that is consoling me is the fact that despite the Pistons sucking totally last year they were still the 4th most lucrative team in the NBA. llitch should still be able to make money even if they blow but it is only a matter of time before you own a bunch of teams that suck and you start to lose money. Bottom line, just don't let the Wings start suffering.