Actually I'm not.
Maybe I should have been more clear, but I thought that Gilbert/Gores [[or others) indicated that if they didn't get the fail jail site they'd get a site along the river or another Midtown site.
With the help of Google [[Mann is with Detroit FC. The part I bolded is from the author of the newspaper article.):
Mann doesn’t think that Detroit’s MLS bid hinges on the proposed stadium being built on the jail site.
"I think there’s other parcels to be had,” he said. “They need 10 acres, and I think they can find that elsewhere, so I think that gets resolved. As long as they have the finances and the wherewithal to build a stadium, then I think things move along.”
The riverfront is believed to be one such option for a stadium, as well as vacant lots west of the Fox Theatre.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/20...-bid/97248108/
Folks like Gilbert/Gores understand the real estate mantra: "Location, location, location." The location has to be desirable, not some crappy land the city is trying to get rid of that no one wants.
That said, they will NOT 'dump' a 250M stadium next to a burned out factory.
They absolutely understand that a sports facility needs to be in a vibrant area and the mistaken days of putting it in some corn field or somewhere like near Metro airport where land and it happens to be near a freeway is over.
My question about the lots west of the Fox: there were problems with site assembly for an arena will there still be problems for a soccer stadium?