Joe Louis the crumbling arena

[Pavel Hossyukstrom 2]

So who is going to pay for the new arena?

Ilitch? ..... he probably could but would hesitate to do it. But doesn't he own a giant plot of land right by the Hockeytown Bar?

With the state of the City of Detroit's budget does anyone think they can justify paying 300+ mil for a new arena? Public funding for sports team arenas not really envogue right now.

Not really liking where this is going.....

yup every place besides Pittsburgh, I guess right? So why are the Pens getting a new arena again then?

[Jwo 7]

Demo Cobo Hall and build a new stadium there. Kill two birds with one stone since Detroit needs a new modern convention center to keep up with the newer ones. They can build an new convention center with room to expand at another location within the city.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Jwo

[schulzte 18]

This site has been brought up here at LGW a few times in the past...I personally like this design/layout

New Olympia Stadium

There is some new 3-D modeling of the New Olympia Stadium at www.newolympia.blogspot.com

Edited January 30, 2010 by schulzte

[hillzskillz13 0]

Why didnt the Illitch's buy the silverdome? it was sold for like a million, right? that would work for like at least 5 years until somethin was built. That would be sweet

[schulzte 18]

Those 3-D images are something else

I can see how some would nickname it "the red barn".

I'm glad you like them. I figured out how to put the model into Google Earth 3-D, and I thought "wow, this is really cool". I think it would look great right in line with the other two stadiums. The only thing better would be to put it right on Grand River in that neighborhood, but there are a couple little buildings in the way. There are no buildings now where I placed it on the map. Those cars parked next to the building were in the Google Earth Map, I couldn't really take them out. Needless to say, there won't be cars in front of the front doors.

[Gizmo 21]

They got the new Yankee stadium built in 2 years...

When there's a will, there's a way... and although I don't agree on putting one up over night and paying an insane amount to rush it either, they could do it in 3 years easily...

I'm guessing that's 2 years from ground breaking to completion. That doesn't include all of the pre-construction work that has to be done. I think we know the "where", but I didn't think that the "what" has been determined in terms of the final design. Then there's the red tape of the "how" that will likey require lots of governmental negotiations and likey a voter referendem. So you'd need all that plus 2-3 years to build the thing.

Edited January 30, 2010 by Gizmo

[dallas27 7]

While moving them to the Palace for a short stint would probably bring in more revenue from ticket sales you don't take hockey away from Hockeytown for any period of time. I quite enjoy being able to drive 5-10 minutes to the Joe and get $15 student rush tickets and would be extremerly pissed if I wasn't able to do that but rather drive 45 minutes to get to a game. Not that my opinion matters to Mr. Illitch.

That being said, if a new arena is built my two requests is they have an honorary troft in one of the mens bathrooms to pee in. That's part of the experience of going to the game! And don't change the name, keep it Joe Louis Arena please. I can only imagine saying "I'm going to the Joe" and not "I'm going to *insert company name here*."

[tiff_luvs_homer 5]

While moving them to the Palace for a short stint would probably bring in more revenue from ticket sales you don't take hockey away from Hockeytown for any period of time. I quite enjoy being able to drive 5-10 minutes to the Joe and get $15 student rush tickets and would be extremerly pissed if I wasn't able to do that but rather drive 45 minutes to get to a game. Not that my opinion matters to Mr. Illitch.

That being said, if a new arena is built my two requests is they have an honorary troft in one of the mens bathrooms to pee in. That's part of the experience of going to the game! And don't change the name, keep it Joe Louis Arena please. I can only imagine saying "I'm going to the Joe" and not "I'm going to *insert company name here*."

No matter what it'll always be "The Joe" to the people of Detroit. I know when Mile High Stadium was torn down here in Denver and replaced with "Ivesco Field at Mile High" a lot of people were upset but in our hearts it'll always be Mile High Stadium.

[vangvace 12]

If the Joe is a dump, I wonder what MSG and the Islanders rinks look like. I haven't been to the Joe in a long time, is it really that bad? (not sarcasm). As for the people complaining about the seats, its the same problem in new stadiums/rinks. I went to Ford Field for a Lions game and I practically had to be shoehorned into one of the seats.

I would love to see a new rink built. I just don't think it will happen in the next 3-5 years.

The Isles have the worst building in the league. I think their new building project is still floundering and may force them to relocate.

Oh and move the Wings to Ford field until a new build can be built. You can then lower ticket prices, set attendance records, and see a winning home team play there. Since the Lions don't use it as a practice facility to my knowledge it should be easier to work scheduling conflicts than at the Palace as well.

[schulzte 18]

The Isles have the worst building in the league. I think their new building project is still floundering and may force them to relocate.

Oh and move the Wings to Ford field until a new build can be built. You can then lower ticket prices, set attendance records, and see a winning home team play there. Since the Lions don't use it as a practice facility to my knowledge it should be easier to work scheduling conflicts than at the Palace as well.

I like the idea of using Ford Field temporarily for hockey a lot. The sight lines would be decent if the ice was placed across the end zone like they are doing for the Frozen Four. It would be very cool to have some 25,000+ crowds for the Wings.

The big problem with that is that once an ice rink is built at Ford Field, it takes a while to dismantle and rebuild, probably a few days at least. I don't know that they would be interested in taking down and rebuilding and ice rink three times a month. Once the rink was built and kept in place, any other events would be limited to the other half of the dome not being used for hockey.

I don't think it is completely crazy to think that the season could actually be split, with October-January Games played at the Palace and February-May or June (Optimistically) played at Ford Field. That might be the best of both worlds. The most important games of the season being played downtown in front of big crowds, while avoiding conflicts with the Lions and only tying up the heavily used Palace for four months.

New Olympia Stadium

[Johnny Diamonds 25]

I like the idea of using Ford Field temporarily for hockey a lot. The sight lines would be decent if the ice was placed across the end zone like they are doing for the Frozen Four. It would be very cool to have some 25,000+ crowds for the Wings.

The big problem with that is that once an ice rink is built at Ford Field, it takes a while to dismantle and rebuild, probably a few days at least. I don't know that they would be interested in taking down and rebuilding and ice rink three times a month. Once the rink was built and kept in place, any other events would be limited to the other half of the dome not being used for hockey.

I don't think it is completely crazy to think that the season could actually be split, with October-January Games played at the Palace and February-May or June (Optimistically) played at Ford Field. That might be the best of both worlds. The most important games of the season being played downtown in front of big crowds, while avoiding conflicts with the Lions and only tying up the heavily used Palace for four months.

New Olympia Stadium

Using Ford Field is a damn good idea. The schedule would be pretty easy to work around. The Pistons use to play in the Silver Dome and it was too much of a problem. It really could work.

[kjphilll1 0]

It is a lot easier to have football and basketball in the same facility, then to have hockey and football. An ice rink takes a lot of time to set up and dismantle, where for the basketball games they really only have to put some wood down, and then pick it up.

Ford Field, while cool wouldn't be logical. There is a chance that it would be used for football all the way up until the end of January.

[ZataforCaptain 0]

This.

Ditto This.

I vote for the team playing at the downtown outdoor rink instead of playing at the Palace In reality, I hope they sign a year to year deal with the Joe while building a new Olympia.......more seats but keep the atmosphere inside and out. Red Barn #2.

[Jwo 7]

It is a lot easier to have football and basketball in the same facility, then to have hockey and football. An ice rink takes a lot of time to set up and dismantle, where for the basketball games they really only have to put some wood down, and then pick it up.

Ford Field, while cool wouldn't be logical. There is a chance that it would be used for football all the way up until the end of January.

There's only 8 home games and they play once a week. Lions practice out in Allen Park on site of The Detroit Lions Headquarters.

[HenryMalredo 2]

Ford Field, while cool wouldn't be logical. There is a chance that it would be used for football all the way up until the end of January.

Football season doesn't last that long in Detroit.

[TX Wing 26]

yeah lets be honest it's the lions we are talking about here.

[AtomicPunk 296]

Here's my Joe Louis story..

Went down for the Friday game against Nashville.

My fiancee got tickets at a charity auction, was promised seats "On The Ice", which meant on the glass.

We get down there and see we are in Section 126, on one of the corners, good seats, we get down to the seats and see a row of folding chairs in front of us. We are in Row 1. I asked the usher, "what row is THAT?" and he said "row zero."

Sure enough, people came and sat in those seats with Row Zero tickets.

Anywhere other than the curve, there was no "row zero."

But on the curve, they jammed in 10 more folding chairs and called it "row Zero."

I was just stunned, really, for the cost of those tickets, to have people sitting in basically a chair you would take to a picnic.

And my fiancee had to use the bathroom, went up during the intermission, came back and said "forget it, I'll miss the game if I wait for it". I told her in the middle of the second period, "if you have to go, go now." She said she would miss the game, and I said, "Not as much as you will if you wait!"

It's old, it's not functional, it needs updating horribly if they are going to stay there.

[RedWings 79]

I just don't get one thing.

Let's just update the Joe seats...

Lets make new ones, renew the facilities. Cost would be minimal and adapted to Detroit current economic issue.

No need of a new stadium. The legend is in the Joe, it would be ridiculous to share our rink with a Basketball team.