Another Detroit Icon May Leave the City [[Kronk Gym)...

[iheartthed]

Why is it shameful? A private business owner wants to move his business to his target audience.

Maybe, given the inner city depopulation, there aren't that many folks in the vicinity wanting to take up boxing. The demographics are probably far more favorable, especially in the long-term, in Southfield.

What exactly is the difference between it being located in Detroit, Dearborn or Southfield, in regards to audience? It's not like he's packing up and moving it to Dallas or L.A. It takes longer to drive from Sterling Heights to Dearborn than it does to downtown Detroit. And that's why I think the reasoning behind the move is bullshit.

However, he can take his organization where ever he wants. I just wish that when people did this they just left the historical names behind. Taking the Kronk name to a facility outside of Detroit makes it meaningless.

[Bham1982]

What exactly is the difference between it being located in Detroit, Dearborn or Southfield, in regards to audience? It's not like he's packing up and moving it to Dallas or L.A. It takes longer to drive from Sterling Heights to Dearborn than it does to downtown Detroit. And that's why I think the reasoning behind the move is bullshit.

Maybe, but I don't know the target audience. I would think a gym generally draws from a local market, and maybe Southfield is more central to his target market.

I know we want Detroit institutions to stay in Detroit, but I think it's more important that they thrive somewhere within the region. It's not like the owner is evil or something if he thinks a move will help the bottom line.

[Detroitnerd]

Well, bear in mind that the city gym they worked out of was scrapped out, and, as I remember, the city took a poor view of rehabilitating it. The line, as I recall it, was that the city has already done well by Kronk and Steward, and enough was enough. So they wound up working out of that car wash gym on St. Aubin for a while. I hope the Southfield government treats them better than Detroit did.

And, of course, all this is against the background of the death of boxing. Given competition from the mixed martial arts format, toothless boxing regulation in Michigan, a lack of matchmakers willing to put a boxer on a real learning track, and the fact that it seems every fighter gets a belt these days, the sweet science is going to find it increasingly hard to hang on in Detroit.

[DetroitPlanner]

Well, bear in mind that the city gym they worked out of was scrapped out, and, as I remember, the city took a poor view of rehabilitating it. The line, as I recall it, was that the city has already done well by Kronk and Steward, and enough was enough. So they wound up working out of that car wash gym on St. Aubin for a while. I hope the Southfield government treats them better than Detroit did.

The Kronk Gym has not been in the Kronk Rec center for at least a decade. They rent an old pharmacy in the middle of Warrendale.

[iheartthed]

Maybe, but I don't know the target audience. I would think a gym generally draws from a local market, and maybe Southfield is more central to his target market.

I know we want Detroit institutions to stay in Detroit, but I think it's more important that they thrive somewhere within the region. It's not like the owner is evil or something if he thinks a move will help the bottom line.

I have no problem with an institution thriving outside of Detroit on its own merit, but he's clearly trying to capitalize on the Kronk history... and I feel that he's not paying proper respect to the heritage by moving it away from the city. If he wants to move his institution outside of Detroit then why not name it after himself? His name is huge in its own right.