Originally Posted by
Detroitnerd
Whereas Fenway Park or Wrigley Field ARE tributes to the teams' histories.
Ilitch moved to the new stadium so he could control it all: The parking, the concessions, the drinks, skyboxes. It's a bigfoot modern stadium that put surface parking on Woodward. What looks like an appealing design actually offers very little in the way of shade [[probably to pump up beverage sales). Billionaire Ilitch, through his political connections, got the public to kick in a ton of money for his own empire, then raided the Tiger Stadium protection fund, and got the city to pay for tearing it down. Now, through his proxy George Jackson, he refuses to let even a modest baseball purpose return to the Corner, not just because he knows it's a natural spot for baseball, but because it's the scene of the crime.
I've had it with Mike Ilitch and his family. You can praise them all you want, but this individual is sick and tired of this parsimonious parking lot king getting lauded for fixing up a theater, once, more than 20 years ago, and trying to get the public to pay for what he should be funding out of his billionaire pockets. Fine. Go ahead and knock down the fabric of downtown for your entertainment empire. Go ahead and shake down the public for more money. Build parking lots and stadiums until your dreams come true. Who cares, right? It's fucking Chinatown.
But stop siccing George Jackson on the Corner. Not everything is competition to your tinhorn empire. Stop trying to derail or wipe out history by playing Herod the Great.