I can speak to that. My mother and I went to a Pistons back years ago and after we left we got lost in Pontiac. [[She was driving, not me)
Answer: back in the late 70's when the Pistons were a very, very mediocre team, Davidson discovered that Whites [[the ones with the money) would not come to Detroit to watch a sorry-ass team play. [[I'm curious to know what the outcome would have been if the Pistons were a elite team? Would people had still stayed away) What is unsure is if Davidson knew of Mayor Young's decision to build Joe Louis Arena before or after he decided to move his team to the Silverdome? If he knew Detroit was going to build a larger arena and he still moved to the Dome then he moved the Pistons because he wanted to make it easy for Whites to attend the games. If he found out after he signed the agreement to move then it was bad timing, but I think he had his mind made up to move no matter what.Business-wise..... How in the world did we ever end up with the Pistons in the deep-burbs and the Wings in the heart of the city? I can't help but think there's more money there. But hey, it's Detroit!
Back in 85, before the Palace was dreamed up and a season before the Red Wings started selling out JLA, the Pistons had a another bite at downtown Detroit when the Silverdome roof collapsed. Again, the Pistons were mediocre but they weren't bad like the 70's teams and like the 70's, Whites didn't want to cross the 8Mile border to watch the team so the decision was made; the Pistons will build a new arena in Auburn Hills. [[huh!!) Tom Wilson went before the media and said flat out that the fans [[read: White people) didn't want to come to Detroit was a reason why they weren't returning to Detroit. Of course this was before the Red Wings stopped being the Dead Things or Dead Wings and started winning and a couple of years later Mike and Marian Ilitch made the decision to move the Little Caesar's operation from Farmington Hills to the just-purchased Fox Theatre. Funny, how Tom Wilson, the man credited for making the Palace, a world-class arena, credited being one of the architects of the championship Pistons teams is the same man hired to bring the Pistons back...to Detroit
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