Could More Sports And Entertainment Events Come To Detroit?

[Bham1982]

LCA is ready made for a quadrennial [[4 year) convention as they used to be called. Great location. Great acoustics. Plenty of places to eat. And, of course, the obligatory reference to the QLine. Etc.

I'd assume convention organizers would be pleased with the facilities.

Detroit is an addict and sports is the drug. We have every team playing downtown, three taxpayer subsidized palaces, and yet it's never enough. Let's bring on the soccer, cricket, badminton, fencing, curling and water polo stadia and we'll REALLY be thriving then.

Crazy that actual vibrant places like NYC, Paris, London don't have all these sports venues in their core. Wonder how they survive.

Oh, remember when everyone said the Pistons problem was location, rather than team [[even though the Pistons led the NBA in attendance just a few years ago)? Well, since, moving downtown, they've actually dropped in relative attendance, going from 25th to 26th. Pretty amazing for a brand new arena.

Has there ever been such a precedent [[brand new U.S. professional sports arena with half empty building)? I don't think the Pistons could possibly have a worse start.

[masterblaster]

Detroit is an addict and sports is the drug. We have every team playing downtown, three taxpayer subsidized palaces, and yet it's never enough. Let's bring on the soccer, cricket, badminton, fencing, curling and water polo stadia and we'll REALLY be thriving then.

Crazy that actual vibrant places like NYC, Paris, London don't have all these sports venues in their core. Wonder how they survive.

Oh, remember when everyone said the Pistons problem was location, rather than team [[even though the Pistons led the NBA in attendance just a few years ago)? Well, since, moving downtown, they've actually dropped in relative attendance, going from 25th to 26th. Pretty amazing for a brand new arena.

Has there ever been such a precedent [[brand new U.S. professional sports arena with half empty building)? I don't think the Pistons could possibly have a worse start.

Nobody is saying we need to build stadiums for badminton and fencing. Mr. EMU STEVE'S comment was that those convention organizers would be pleased with our CURRENT facilities.

Also, in order to attract an MLS squad, a new stadium is required by that league.

Detroit has never been in the same class as NYC, London, and Paris, and will never be 1/20 of those places [[nor will a whole lot of big cities in the U.S.).

Let me ask you this. You never, ever, ever give solutions. Only criticisms and put-downs. Since you criticize every single proposal or action to improve Detroit, what do you propose Detroit do to grow its economy, attract businesses, attract residents? Are you capable of offering any ideas or solutions, or are you only capable of knocking everyone else's.

[ghettopalmetto]

Nobody is saying we need to build stadiums for badminton and fencing. Mr. EMU STEVE'S comment was that those convention organizers would be pleased with our CURRENT facilities.

Also, in order to attract an MLS squad, a new stadium is required by that league.

Detroit has never been in the same class as NYC, London, and Paris, and will never be 1/20 of those places [[nor will a whole lot of big cities in the U.S.).

Let me ask you this. You never, ever, ever give solutions. Only criticisms and put-downs. Since you criticize every single proposal or action to improve Detroit, what do you propose Detroit do to grow its economy, attract businesses, attract residents? Are you capable of offering any ideas or solutions, or are you only capable of knocking everyone else's.

I think Bham is contending that you can't build an economy focused on professional sports and events, which are heavily subsidized by taxpayers. Detroit was arguably the wealthiest city on earth during the 1920s, and it wasn't because of the Red Wings or NCAA.

Events are nice, but they're bread and circuses. I tend to agree with Bham that too much energy is expended on "attracting events" in lieu of making reasonable policy choices that can help to grow an economy.

Sure, Cleveland hosted the RNC in 2016, which attracted many visitors. But the locals stayed home, and most downtown restaurants that had not been rented out for the week did less business than usual. Even our public market--outside of downtown--that is usually busy on weekends and a tourist attraction in its own right, was absolutely dead during the convention. The real improvements have been incremental and painstaking, taking place with the construction of new housing and opening of small businesses.

If you want to be Indianapolis, though, go nuts.

[iheartthed]

I think Bham is contending that you can't build an economy focused on professional sports and events, which are heavily subsidized by taxpayers. Detroit was arguably the wealthiest city on earth during the 1920s, and it wasn't because of the Red Wings or NCAA.

Events are nice, but they're bread and circuses. I tend to agree with Bham that too much energy is expended on "attracting events" in lieu of making reasonable policy choices that can help to grow an economy.

Sure, Cleveland hosted the RNC in 2016, which attracted many visitors. But the locals stayed home, and most downtown restaurants that had not been rented out for the week did less business than usual. Even our public market--outside of downtown--that is usually busy on weekends and a tourist attraction in its own right, was absolutely dead during the convention. The real improvements have been incremental and painstaking, taking place with the construction of new housing and opening of small businesses.

If you want to be Indianapolis, though, go nuts.

I agree with you both that public funds shouldn't be used for sport stadiums. I think that discussion is extremely tangential to the point of this thread. And now that Detroit has the stadiums Detroit needs to pay for them, so they should be fighting tooth and nail for every event they can physically host.