From an article earlier this year on MLive -
"In a "bottom line" sense, it would simply cost more money, never mind time, energy, and effort, to move the Red Wings to the Palace on a temporary basis than it would to remain at Joe Louis Arena.
The logistical concerns and expenses in abandoning the Joe would include but are not limited to the following:
-Moving the Red Wings' front office, which includes both its hockey operations staff and its ticket sales department, the core of its game night staff, media arm, and merchandising, to an as-yet-unknown home as the Pistons' front office occupies the Palace;
-Forming an temporary ticketing alliance with Palace Sports and Entertainment;
-Eliminating the jobs of its its arena employees while attempting to merge its rink maintenance staff with that of the Palace;
-Dealing with the whole, "Palace sells Domino's Pizza and Pepsi" issue;
-Working with Palace Sports and Entertainment to revamp its in-game entertainment;
-Building a separate locker room and revamping the training and fitness facilities in the Palace so as to share the facility with the Pistons;
-Considering building a separate practice facility as the Palace is booked for concerts and events at least twice as often as Joe Louis Arena--while juggling the fact that said practice facility should be located close enough to wherever the Red Wings' follow-on arena is built so as to make travel easy for the players and coaches;
-Attempting to manage the minefield that is cobbling a schedule together while competing against the Pistons and concerts/etc. after spending the last 30 years in what is essentially a single-use facility;
-Attempting to build and maintain an ice surface that isn't terrible due to the Palace's multi-use facility status;
-Managing the transfer the Red Wings' season-ticket base to a new building with new sightlines and a different configuration, which includes inevitably managing moves and possible losses due to the change in physical and figurative location;
-Dealing with the fact that the suite-holder base might disappear or have to compete with the Pistons' and Palace's suite-holders for space;
-Asking the club's employees, including a coaching staff and players that generally lives in West Side suburbs that are twice as far from the Palace as Joe Louis Arena to drive "across town";
-Considering the potential losses the team could incur in terms of its fan base due to the shift in geographic location;
-Corporately speaking, dealing with the fact that the Red Wings are taking business away from Olympia Entertainment's facilities and padding Palace Sports and Entertainment's bottom line as another jewel in that company's crown;
-Finally, delicately severing ties with the Palace and whoever ends up owning the Pistons whenever the Joe's follow-on rink is eventually built.
Rest of article
