NHL/MLB markets where hockey and baseball share special links
By Al Daniel
Shared NHL and MLB market: Detroit
Ilitch Holdings, Inc. carries on its late founder Mike Ilitch’s status as owner of the Tigers and Red Wings, among other Motor City enterprises. One of those is the scholarship fund for the Little Caesar’s elite travel hockey program, named for Ilitch’s pizza company.
Ilitch and his wife Marian purchased the Wings in 1982, then the Tigers 10 years later. Even before that, those teams were the only sports franchises based in Detroit proper, or even in Wayne County.
In 1978, the NBA’s Pistons moved out to the Pontiac Silverdome, where they cohabitated with the NFL’s Lions until 1988. They then moved to another Oakland County venue, the Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Lions stayed in the Silverdome until Ford Field opened across the street from the Tigers’ Comerica Park in 2002. As such, the NHL and MLB were the only two of the Big Four leagues with an actual Detroit team for 24 years.
It was therefore a somewhat strange twist when the Wings hosted the 2014 Winter Classic and took the showcase an hour west to Ann Arbor. Naturally, the objective was to swell attendance at the University of Michigan’s heralded “Big House.”
But Comerica Park did get in on the event’s trimmings, hosting a variety of other games on a temporary pond. This allowed spectators for the alumni game, AHL contest, and college Great Lakes Invitational to walk across from a Red Wing-themed restaurant before or afterward.
And naturally, when Little Caesars Arena replaced Joe Louis Arena, it nestled into the entertainment kiosk rife with Ilitch’s influence.