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Comerica Park

In the course of moving a mile east from Tiger Stadium to Comerica Park, the Detroit ballclub left behind an unmatched trove of history and tradition. Professional teams played on the site as far back as the 19th century, and throughout the 20th, every Tiger home game was played at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues. Every A.L. regular of the 20th century played on that field: long-vanished giants such as Cy Young, Nap Lajoie, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, as well as more recent stars. And more home runs -- nearly 11,000 -- were hit on that site than anywhere else.

In its last decades, Tiger Stadium was also the best place for fans as well, with the closest upper deck to the playing field, more cheap bleacher seats than any other park, and unforced quirks such as an overhanging right-field upper deck. For eleven years, the Tiger Stadium Fan Club held off two successive owners in their fight to save the park, but eventually money and clout triumphed.

Its $260 million replacement, Comerica Park, is surely an economic boon to ownership, with suites, club seats, eating and drinking places and concession stands aplenty. But there are far fewer cheap seats, the upper deck is much further from the field, and fewer people can be accommodated for big games.

Comerica is sited just north of downtown, and there is a splendid view of the skyline beyond right field. To accomplish this, the structure was set at an angle to the surrounding streets -- the first time that a non-circular urban big-league park adopted such an odd alignment. This also means that batters are facing almost due south, a situation that has disturbed Joe Falls, Detroit's senior baseball writer.

Comerica Park has a brick exterior, 42,000 seats, a small foul territory, and 345-420-335 outfield dimensions. Had it replaced a facility such as Riverfront or Three Rivers Stadium, fans and owners alike would count it a major step forward. It remains to be seen whether Detroit fans find it an improvement over its predecessor.

Ford Field

The Detroit team moved from the University of Detroit Stadium to Briggs Field, home of the baseball Tigers, in 1938, where they stayed for 37 years. In 1975, the Lions moved into the Pontiac Silverdome where they played for another 37 years. In 2002, the team moved back to downtown Detroit and into the new domed stadium, Ford Field. The Lions' home is a 65,000-seat facility that includes a giant glass wall, revealing the Detroit skyline, and the old Hudson's Warehouse, originally built in 1920. The Detroit Lions' stadium encompasses a total of 1.85 million square feet. The old Hudson's Warehouse, a major cornerstone of Ford Field, houses luxury seats, the press box, restaurants, food courts, lounge areas, banquet facilities, entertainment venues and commercial space. Detroit played its first home preseason game at Ford Field on August 24, 2002 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Joe Louis Arena

Joe Louis Arena, a.k.a. The Joe and JLA, is the home of the Detroit Red Wings National Hockey League franchise. The arena was completed in 1978 and is named after boxer Joe Louis. It is located at 600 Civic Center Drive on the Detroit River with a view of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Joe Louis Arena is owned by the city of Detroit and operated by Olympia Entertainment, Inc., an Ilitch-owned company (the Ilitch family also owns Little Caesar's Pizza, the Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers MLB franchise, the Fox Theatre, and other Detroit-area interests). JLA replaced Olympia Stadium. It is adjacent to Cobo Hall. Several plans for a replacement arena have been raised for years; presently, JLA is considered somewhat outdated due to its lack of luxury boxes and other revenue-generating amenities. As of 2004, no firm plan for a replacement is in place.

A pet theory of some Detroit residents is that the remains of Jimmy Hoffa, the infamous Teamsters chief last seen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1975, might be encased in the concrete of JLA. Theories connecting Hoffa's body and sports facilities are popular; another version holds that his remains are located beneath Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Palace of Auburn Hills

The Palace of Auburn Hills is a sports venue in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan that is home to the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. Previously, the franchise had played its home games in the Pontiac Silverdome, a venue constructed for football. Its large seating capacity (22,076 for basketball; higher still for any event in which part of the arena floor can be used for seating) and suburban location have also made it very popular for large rock concerts and, to a slightly lesser degree, major boxing matches. The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, considered an exorbitant number when it opened in 1988, but it has successfully managed to lease virtually all of them. It has been used as the basis for the development of other "luxury" sports arenas elsewhere in North America, but the majority of these were built in downtown locations rather than suburban ones like the Palace's.