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Dan Gilbert at press conference (Bedrock photo)
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert wants to build a Major League Soccer stadium in downtown Detroit with Pistons owner Tom Gores.
Many in town applauded the plan, which has more than a few skeptics. Add Free Press sports columnist Drew Sharp to that latter group. He writes Wednesday:
Detroit isn’t a sports town as much as it is a Detroit sports town. The passion stems from generational legacies as well as long, collective suffering. The wait makes it all worth it -- whether it's 42 years between Red Wings Stanley Cups, only two Tigers World Series titles in the last seven decades or 58 years -- and counting -- with the Lions.
That’s why Major League Soccer won’t work here. It won’t sell here. There’s no history. No tradition. No communal lamenting over missed opportunities.
It matters little that nearly 110,000 people filled Michigan Stadium two years ago, when Real Madrid played Manchester United -- only two of the five most valuable sports franchises in the world. But just because there’s a soccer audience in this area doesn’t make it a sustainable market for an MLS franchise. It’ll be cute for a while because it’s new. But then even the heartiest soccer fans will realize that the quality of the MLS is mediocre, at best.
