The new hockey arena.
The new hockey arena.
Detroit once had all four major league sports teams in the city. Then the Pistons and the Lions moved to Oakland County.
The Lions have returned and now the Pistons plan on doing the same. Philly and D.C. that have all four teams in the city, but this will set Detroit apart: All four Detroit teams will play within blocks of each other by next fall.
Patrick Rishe notes the national distinction in Forbes magazine:
With the NBA’s Pistons announcing this week they will be relocating from Auburn Hills (34 miles north of downtown Detroit) to join the Red Wings in their new Little Caesars Arena, which itself is approximately a 5-6 block walk to both Comerica Park (home of the Tigers) and Ford Field (home of the Lions), Detroit’s burgeoning sports and entertainment district is about to become the most compact and voluminous of its kind in America.
By October 2017, each of the 4 professional Detroit sports teams will call downtown Detroit home, and each will be playing in amazing facilities. Little Caesars will obviously be a brand new and state-of-the-art, and I can personally attest to the quality of both Ford Field and Comerica Park (founded in 2002 and 2000, respectively). My firm has conducted studies in both those facilities, and they are wonderful facilities nestled perfectly in the heart of the city.
If Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and Pistons owner Tom Gores can bring professional soccer to the spot where the unfinished county jail sits on Gratiot Avenue, the Forbes journalist observes, that'll add to the compact professional sports district.
