Detroit Billionaire To Bid For The Pistons
Filed under: Sports
How many teams does one billionaire need? If you are Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars pizza mogul, that number might be three. Ilitch, who already owns the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings has said that he wants to buy the NBA team the Detroit Pistons in order to keep the basketball team in town. Pistons owner Karen Davidson, who lost her husband, Bill Davidson last year, has said she is considering a sale of the team by itself or along with Palace Sports and Entertainment, which includes The Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival. Only one other person has owned three of a city's professional teams before. Ted Turner did it, owning the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the NBA's Hawks and the NHL's Thrashers. The Pistons have an expected value of $479 million. Earlier this month the Golden State Warriors set a record when the team sold for $450 million. Locals are concerned that Ilitch might want to take the team out of its current location at The Palace of Auburn Hills and move it to a downtown arena that could be used by both the Pistons and the Red Wings. The Detroit News says that the arena has been the home of the Pistons since 1988 and pays $2 million a year in property taxes to Auburn Hills. There has been talk of a new downtown stadium since earlier this year when Ilitch's Olympia Entertainment said it did not want a long-term lease for Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Center for the Red Wings to continue playing there. The lease between the Red Wings and Joe Louis Arena expired in June but the hockey team will continue to play there next season because it does not have a new home.
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