MLS Team in Detroit

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/17/news/ec ... tm?cnn=yes

Stadium: Check
Owner: TBD

Plus, an indoor stadium lends itself well to moving to a Fall-Spring schedule.

 

They said the same thing about Cleveland a few years ago, and it never came about. Too much alike here to get me all fored up. Also, doesn't Detroit have bigger fish to fry in their city? Neither of our fine burgs are doing all that well.

 

First, Let me say how cool it is you can buy a stadium for so cheap.

Second, I don’t see any real chance of this happening. That stadium is so big that MLS crowds will look miniscule. It will look like when the Wizards played at Arrowhead. I don’t see MLS going for this at all. I honestly only thought MLS went to Seattle (and Quest field), because of the celebrity owner appeal of Drew Carey (although Seattle fans proved me wrong). I just don’t see these NFL size stadiums as a good idea for the future of the MLS.

But, I do enjoy the creativity.

 

The worry warts on Crew Mb are thinking someone will buy and move the Crew in.

 

I don't dig indoor stadiums and I don't dig plastic pitches. Plus, Detroit isn't exactly a football hotbed. Luckily tyis will probably not get very far.

 

Everyone, the Silverdome is not in Detroit. It's in Pontiac -- 30 miles away. The City of Motors had nothing to do with this.

Speculators purchased it, now lets move along...

 

I suspect the cost of reconfiguring the stadium to have a smaller capacity would not be that expensive (relative to building a new 20,000 seater). Make it a 30-35k seater stadium and put in good field turf. Detroit is still a top 25 market, neither UM nor MSU have any real attendance issues for NCAAF, so there are enough people in the area who are spending money on sports.

Plus, to go to a Fall-Spring, we'll need domed stadiums in some places. Might as well start somewhere.

 

I dunno about the market being there... but the reconfig part is correct.

The reason for new NFL stadiums is that there wasnt enough room for expensive 'sky boxes'. A re-do to lower stad seating would allow VIP suites.

And dont forget as a concert venue ... dunno about market for THAT either, but it's a real factor.

 

Holy crap...they got 127 acres of level, easily developable (is that a word?) land located within 30 miles of a major city for about a half mil?!?! If that is accurate, it is astounding.

...I'm wondering if they only got the stadium, and not the surrounding land.

Something doesn't seem right here. That is just too good a deal to be true.

 

I think you've hit on something, JP. We'll know in a few months at most I'm thinking. Pile of rubble has less upkeep costs than an empty building.