Ilitch’s confirm they are interested in buying the Pistons

Adam Hernandez

14 years ago

Gregg Krupa and Eric Lacy of the Detroit News report that Mike and Marian Ilitch have confirmed that they are interested in buying the Detroit Pistons who are currently up for sale. Here is what they had to say…

“Marian and I grew up here, we raised our family here, and we built our businesses here,” said Mike Ilitch, who presides over a financial empire that includes Little Ceasars Pizza, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers and entertainment holdings all headquartered in downtown Detroit. “Detroit is our home. When I read in the paper there was the chance that this great sports town could lose one of its professional sports franchises, I just didn’t see how we could let that happen.

“The Pistons, just like the Red Wings, Tigers and the Lions, have a rich and storied tradition in this community, and they’ve brought pride to fans and our community,” said Ilitch, who as a young man aspired to play Major League Baseball. “You all know I love sports — all sports, from amateur sports to the various pro sports we’ve had the privilege to be involved with, and like a lot of others I’m sure, I really want to see the Pistons remain the Detroit Pistons.”

“We talked about it internally, and when you take our 33 years of experience in professional sports, our commitment to this community, our passion for winning and pursuing championships, and you couple that with the opportunity to have a local, engaged owner for the Pistons, we decided to take a run at it,” Ilitch said. “We believe we could bring a lot to the table that could be tremendously positive for the Pistons franchise, the NBA and the fans of this community.

“So, today, we formally notified the Detroit Pistons that we have interest in purchasing the team. This is a required first-step, and we look forward to the opportunity to move forward in the process.”

In addition to all of this it has also been reported but not confirmed that the Ilitch’s would also be interested in buying the entertainment venues as well which include The Palace, DTE Energy Music Theatre and the Meadow Brook Music Festival.

Now I’m not going to lie but when I read this I did get chills because as a Detroit Sports fan and as we all know as Detroit Sports fans Mike Ilitch is a tremendous owner who takes pride in his teams and is willing to spend money on his teams. The more amazing thing about all of this is that this comes right after Mike Ilitch said that he is willing to spend with the likes of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox as well as Christopher Ilitch saying that the family still intends to build a new arena downtown for the Red Wings.

Let’s just say the Ilitch’s do buy the Pistons what happens next? First I believe that they will temporarily relocate the Wings to the Palace while they build a new arena downtown for both the Pistons and the Red Wings. This could be for as long as two years but when that arena is ready he brings both teams back downtown. So what would happen to the Palace? Well the Palace is a prime concert venue and I can see it used for primarily that until other sports options emerge for it. Bottom line though Mike and Marian both have way too much invested into the City of Detroit to simply move one of the biggest money makers out of it. That just wouldn’t make any sense. The only thing that concerns me a little about all of this is Mike Ilitch stretching himself too thin? But if he has faith that he can do it and make it work for all parties then so do I.