Pistons To Abandon Perfectly Good Arena, Move In With Red Wings

At a press conference today, the Detroit Pistons announced that the team will soon be playing its home games in downtown Detroit and sharing a new arena with the Detroit Red Wings.

The new arena, which will be ready to use by the start of the 2017 season, was built with a $285 million contribution from the city, which Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch squeezed out of Detroit with one of the one of the most damaging and shady stadium deals in America. With the Pistons moving in, the city of Detroit is now on the hook for a few more million dollars.

According to MLive, the Detroit DDA will kick in another $34.5 million in bond proceeds that will be used to modify the arena so that it can also house a basketball team. However, that number could rise considerably if a new practice facility is constructed for the Pistons:

As for what’s to become of the Pistons’ current arena, where they have been playing since 1988, nobody knows.