Last week, Detroit City FC announced its initial plans to build a new 14,000-seat stadium at the site of the old Detroit Southwest Hospital. This news followed weeks of speculation among fans and supporters, as the long-abandoned site on the border of Corktown and Mexicantown along Michigan Avenue and 20th was finally sold.
Generally speaking, the initial reaction has been positive with owners planning to meet with supporters who own shares in the club next week to further discuss details surrounding the stadium plan which is slated to open up in 2027. However, not everyone is on board with the idea of Le Rouge potentially getting the green light to build a stadium and re-establish a home inside the city. This included 97.1 FM host Mike Valenti who ripped the notion after the news broke on Thursday.
If it turns out that taxpayers and a bunch of public money are being used to fund the construction of this new stadium, fire away with the criticism. Too many times we see municipalities execute a warped sense of priorities when it comes to stadiums while actively ignoring schools, youth programs, the homeless, etc.
However, that’s not what Valenti was criticizing here.
The afternoon blowhard continued to exhibit the same narrow-mindedness that encapsulates a large number of American sports fans — anything other than the NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, and in DCFC’s case, MLS is “minor league”. Valenti even went further saying that Detroit City FC, whose men’s side plays in the USL Championship, a second-division league in the U.S. soccer pyramid right below MLS doesn’t even belong to a “real league”. Now I can go on about why Detroit City FC and USL Championship are anything but “minor league” and why soccer’s makeup is much more nuanced than American sports fans are used to, however, that’s probably an article for a different day.
In Valenti’s case though, his clownish, bad-faith takes, are completely insulated by a call screener and dump button. He’s a coward who’s been living on the same schtick and dumb Michigan/Michigan State rivalry for 20 years now.
