"In this bankrupt city where even keeping the streetlights on has proved a struggle, one industry has continued humming along at a multibillion-dollar clip: professional sports," writes Joe Drape of The New York Times, who examines how Detroit's pro sports franchises are prospering in an era when the city they call home is the most hurting big city in America.
Some examples:
- The Tigers have one of the highest payrolls in baseball at $148 million. Their star first baseman makes $23 million a year. And in a city that is contracting, the Tigers are expanding — their payroll is up 38 percent from 2011.
- The Pistons spent about $80 million to sign two second-tier players this summer.
- The Lions’ quarterback signed a three-year extension in July worth $53 million. And the pizza entrepreneur who owns the Tigers and the Red Wings plans to build an arena as part of a downtown development project partly supported by $285 million in public money.
Detroit’s glittering sports teams operate in a different economy than does the rest of the city. Because of billionaire owners, lucrative television deals, dedicated fans and public subsidies, the city’s teams have few of the problems that have dragged their hometown into the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the nation’s history.
Drape notes that the most of the fans who show up for Tigers' games downtown are white and come from the suburbs. And they drive home after the game.
At a recent news conference, a reporter asked Detroit catcher Alex Avila if he felt guilty earning nearly $3 million a year. It was a question few other baseball players would have to field, but one that Mr. Avila sounded as if he was expecting.
“We definitely are aware of the situation of where we play,” he said. “One thing that motivates us is that we want to be able to bring a championship to Detroit, a place that has longed for one.”
