At LEAST the Detroit Red Wings WIN the Stanley Cup every now and then! They can be called a “good” team that MIGHT justify SOME tax payer expenditures, but the Joe Louis Arena is still pretty new. Why build and even newer one?
There is no justification whatsoever to build a new Ice arena.
The Detroit Lions football team, on the other hand, left the old Tiger stadium (which was a GREAT place) in 1976 for the modern, expensive “Silver Dome” in Pontiac. They played and of course LOST there, I think for 20 consecutive seasons!
After that stadium fiasco, they built “Ford Field”, again, using taxpayer funds. The Lions have been losing there, I think since 2005?
What possible justification can there be for even building that Ford Field? The Lions have been on a losing steak since 1957!!!!
MAYBE if they made it to the playoffs, or even, G-d forbid, to a Superbowl (it will never happen as long as the team is owned by the Ford family) then MAYBE a new stadium is in order but not until Hell freezes over.
Correction, lost there for 30, not 20 consecutive seasons...
All rulers know the masses must have bread and circuses.
The giant new arena will provide both. Bread for the contractors and a circus for the well heeled folks who live around Detroit.
Luxury box sales to corporate sponsors make the whole economic structure of a modern sports league work. If your facility doesn't have them, your team is at a big financial disadvantage.
It isn't the fat guy in Section 202, row 17, seat 8 who keeps the team solvent. They could play profitably to half-empty stadiums as long as the luxury boxes are sold out.