Tiger Stadium is gone.

[PCE]

Yes, but room isn't the issue. It's the fact that said parking structure would only be in use for, at the maximum, 62 days each year. For the other 303 - 319 days, the structure would be completely vacant.

I should also point out that parking structures are much more expensive per parking space than an open parking lot. This is particularly important for something that would be vacant 85% of the time; thereby making the economics that much less feasible. Since such an arena would almost certainly have to use an open air lot for all of its parking, this increases the amount of land that is essentially condemned to always be a part of a dead zone.

In contrast, if the new hockey arena were to remain within walking distance of Comerica Park and Ford Field then the crowd essentially shares the parking spaces. This, in turn, minimizes how much time that parking area is vacant, helps to maintain a steady flow of traffic in the area and makes the development of new retail-based businesses possible.

Oh, and Ndavies - thank you for the correction on the number of home games in an NHL season.

Valid points Fnemecek but my fear is that the site will be one giant parking lot, especially after reading the article that Novine linked in post #45 of this thread.

[Fury13]

...I'd rather have New Olympia Stadium, to be honest.

And you're entitled to your opinion, but I could give a hang about hockey. Yawn.

Nevertheless, if they DO finally build a new hockey arena, hopefully it'll be something architecturally innovative, not a retread of some nostalgic ideal.

As Ray has said, time heals wounds. We see that today: most people are only vaguely aware that there used to be some old arena at Grand River and McGraw. Nobody really cares.