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MotorCityMiracle

New Stadium Idea

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While watching the game today I thought it would be great to make a new hockey rink with a retracting roof in Detroit. If it is possible, what are the chances Illitch goes through with the idea and what do you as fans think?

Playing outside up north on the lake is one of my favorite hockey memories. With the beloved Joe Louis Arena becoming outdated and the possibility of Mike Illitch building a new "Olympia" in the Foxtown area, I believe Detroit should build a retractable roof for our upcoming stadium.

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I doubt that would happen but i would be all for it. Theres alot of different factors when talking no roof on an ice rink over a football or baseball stadium. The overhead scoreboard the lights, things like that. But what the hell do i know about that. On top of that to design a rink to suite the needs of a hockey arena with a retractable roof is something thats never been done id imagine your talking probably close to double the price tag.

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I would be all for it!! I just do not know if even Detroit's climate is cold enough for it to be practical. The window of opportunity to play open air would only be realistic 2 maybe 3 months of the season. Even then, there are unusually warm days well above freezing.

This idea would be better in some place like Ottawa or Edmonton in my opinion.

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I would be all for it!! I just do not know if even Detroit's climate is cold enough for it to be practical. The window of opportunity to play open air would only be realistic 2 maybe 3 months of the season. Even then, there are unusually warm days well above freezing.

This idea would be better in some place like Ottawa or Edmonton in my opinion.

Well that's the beauty of a retractable roof, just open it pending the weather.

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Never happen. It's a fun novelty to play an outdoor game once a year. Fans aren't going to come sit in the bloody freezing cold night after night. The refrigeration would be prohibitively expensive - outdoor rinks are much different than an indoor rink. And we'd go from having the best ice in the league to the worst.

And where would you hang the scoreboard from?

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Guest Shoreline

I think we were over this recently, but given the stadium has only been there 30 years, if it that badly needs to be renovated, sue the people who constructed it in the first place and have them rebuild a better one. I don't believe in architectural obsolescence for a much costlier and service providing building while houses last a high number of decades before needing to be completely renovated. Not worth the cost for the city. If the Illitches want to take on the costs entirely, go for it.

Edited by Shoreline

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just put a scoreboard on both ends?

And lose seating? Or you'd have to have a really high wall - and the scoreboard would have to be much bigger because it'd be twice as far from the people on the ends of the rink as usual.

Look, not to be rude, but let's call this what it is: a silly idea. There's a reason there are no retractable-roof hockey arenas. Seriously, what would be the benefit? That you get to sit outside in the butt-ass-freezing Detroit weather on a Tuesday night in the dark of February and watch a game played on iffy ice where you'd otherwise be reasonably warm watching a game on good indoor ice?

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Look, not to be rude, but let's call this what it is: a silly idea. There's a reason there are no retractable-roof hockey arenas. Seriously, what would be the benefit? That you get to sit outside in the butt-ass-freezing Detroit weather on a Tuesday night in the dark of February and watch a game played on iffy ice where you'd otherwise be reasonably warm watching a game on good indoor ice?

Bingo. Who's really going to want to sit outside during a Michigan winter to see the Blue Jackets for the 5th time on a Tuesday night?

Leave the outdoor games to a once a year deal.

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Guest Four

It would be cool to have an octopus like scoreboard that would allow the room to be open. The tentacles would attach inside the building that doesn't open and the scoreboard would just like hang in the middle from the tentacles. LOL

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Guest dekeyuk
I think we were over this recently, but given the stadium has only been there 30 years, if it that badly needs to be renovated, sue the people who constructed it in the first place and have them rebuild a better one. I don't believe in architectural obsolescence for a much costlier and service providing building while houses last a high number of decades before needing to be completely renovated. Not worth the cost for the city. If the Illitches want to take on the costs entirely, go for it.

Well, the suit would never hold :-), but you are right about obsolescence and city vs owner financing. However, there is another factor here. Detroit completely blew it by building up the water front with the Joe, Ren Cen... Great cities use their water front as public spaces and it is always a great thing. Chicago for example. They have miles of water front that is completely open to the public. Ever been there? It's a lot of fun. If the Joe ever goes that land should be converted to a public space.

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Well, the suit would never hold :-), but you are right about obsolescence and city vs owner financing. However, there is another factor here. Detroit completely blew it by building up the water front with the Joe, Ren Cen... Great cities use their water front as public spaces and it is always a great thing. Chicago for example. They have miles of water front that is completely open to the public. Ever been there? It's a lot of fun. If the Joe ever goes that land should be converted to a public space.

Meh. With Cobo blocking it from the rest of the waterfront, the land is only useful as room for a Cobo expansion. It's surrounded by a freeway, the backside of a convention center, and a fenced-in apartment complex. Use a thin strip of it as part of a riverwalk extension, front it with some landscaping and a second public entrance to Cobo, and fill the rest in with badly-needed convention space. It makes way too much sense.

By the way Detroit didn't completely blow it. They were going to build I-75 along the riverfront similar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle until somebody nixed that plan. The RenCen is in a fine spot. You gotta put some stuff on the waterfront - leaving the whole strip along the river undeveloped except as public open space simply because "it's fun" is a waste. There's nothing wrong with having things on the water for people to go to.

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Meh. With Cobo blocking it from the rest of the waterfront, the land is only useful as room for a Cobo expansion. It's surrounded by a freeway, the backside of a convention center, and a fenced-in apartment complex. Use a thin strip of it as part of a riverwalk extension, front it with some landscaping and a second public entrance to Cobo, and fill the rest in with badly-needed convention space. It makes way too much sense.

By the way Detroit didn't completely blow it. They were going to build I-75 along the riverfront similar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle until somebody nixed that plan. The RenCen is in a fine spot. You gotta put some stuff on the waterfront - leaving the whole strip along the river undeveloped except as public open space simply because "it's fun" is a waste. There's nothing wrong with having things on the water for people to go to.

The best 'Expand Cobo/New Arena" plan that I can think of, unless Ilitch INSISTS upon moving away from the current area, would be to demolish Cobo Hall, Joe Louis Arena, and the almost always vacant Cobo Arena and use the reclaimed space to build a new Cobo Hall and a new Joe Louis Arena.

Here's a link to google maps so you can visualize the amount of space.

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Guest dekeyuk
Meh. With Cobo blocking it from the rest of the waterfront, the land is only useful as room for a Cobo expansion. It's surrounded by a freeway, the backside of a convention center, and a fenced-in apartment complex. Use a thin strip of it as part of a riverwalk extension, front it with some landscaping and a second public entrance to Cobo, and fill the rest in with badly-needed convention space. It makes way too much sense.

By the way Detroit didn't completely blow it. They were going to build I-75 along the riverfront similar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle until somebody nixed that plan. The RenCen is in a fine spot. You gotta put some stuff on the waterfront - leaving the whole strip along the river undeveloped except as public open space simply because "it's fun" is a waste. There's nothing wrong with having things on the water for people to go to.

You need to get out more. The Ren Cen is in a fine spot? What is there to go TO on the Detroit water front? It's not just "fun" in Chicago, it is a city that works, that people live in, that has a million things to do including miles of water front. Oh well, I just like the hockey team, but I thank God every day I no longer live in God forsaken Michigan, anywhere near Detroit, it's crooked mayor, stupid city council and people like you who think things in the joke city of the nation aren't so bad. Enjoy your town. What are you doing at the Detroit water front tonight? Nothing? How about next week? Wait, nothing? How about last summer? What, once or twice to Hart Plaza or stuck inside Cobo? You can try and pull this over, but trust that I know you and 99.9% of metro area people don't do s*** in Detroit or the water front. Wake up.

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I think that idea is cool for a fantasy, but here back on earth, it's probably not a sensible idea. And I doubt that a new arena with a hefty price tag is on the top of the list, while the economy is so poor in the local area. Lots of empty seats = less revenue.

I have always been in favor of a renivation of the Joe. The worst thing about the Joe is the single concourse. Though there are other improvements that can be made like the parking, and the troths.

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Does anyone actually have any credible evidence that either a.) we are getting a new arena or b.) that the Joe is going to undergo major renovations? With the economic situation being what it is in Detroit right now I doubt we will see any progress on this front for several more years.

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The best 'Expand Cobo/New Arena" plan that I can think of, unless Ilitch INSISTS upon moving away from the current area, would be to demolish Cobo Hall, Joe Louis Arena, and the almost always vacant Cobo Arena and use the reclaimed space to build a new Cobo Hall and a new Joe Louis Arena.

Nah, Cobo needs all the space it can get, and that means the land that the Joe and Cobo Arena sit on. Besides, demolishing and rebuilding Cobo would be crazy expensive. A new arena would be best in the Foxtown area, where there isn't much going on and where Ilitch already owns a ton of land.

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Cobo Story

Does anyone actually have any credible evidence that either a.) we are getting a new arena or b.) that the Joe is going to undergo major renovations? With the economic situation being what it is in Detroit right now I doubt we will see any progress on this front for several more years.

Robert Ficcano recently announced plans to expand Cobo Hall into Cobo Arena search Detnews for details...no mention of an arena yet.

Edited by Booster313

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Robert Ficcano recently announced plans to expand Cobo Hall into Cobo Arena search Detnews for details...no mention of an arena yet.

Sometime last year Ilitch was talking about a self-imposed deadline for announcing whether he'd build a new arena or renovate the Joe. That's what got people talking about this in the first place. Ilitch hasn't said a thing since then though. Probably the "economy" is to blame like it's to blame for everything else, but both plans seem to be on hold for now.

I still think Ilitch bought up all that land behind the Fox with every intention of building a new arena back there.

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