The Palace | |
Address | 6 Championship Drive [1] |
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Location | Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S. [1] |
Coordinates | 42°41′49″N83°14′44″W / 42.69694°N 83.24556°W |
Owner | Tom Gores [2] |
Operator | Palace Sports & Entertainment [3] |
Capacity | Basketball: 22,076 [4] [5] Ice hockey: 20,804 [3] [5] Concerts: 6,000 to 23,000 [3] [5] |
Construction | |
Broke ground | June 7, 1986 [6] |
Opened | August 13, 1988 [7] |
Renovated | 2005, [3] 2015 [3] |
Closed | October 12, 2017 [8] |
Demolished | July 11, 2020 [9] |
Construction cost | $90 million [2] ($232 million in 2023 dollars [10] ) |
Architect | Rossetti Architects [11] |
Project manager | Frank Rewold and Sons [12] |
Structural engineer | McClerg & Associates Inc. [13] |
General contractor | R.E. Dailey & Company [14] |
Tenants | |
Detroit Pistons (NBA) (1988–2017) Detroit Vipers (IHL) (1994–2001) Detroit Safari (CISL) (1994–1997) Detroit Whalers (OHL) (1995–1996) Detroit Rockers (NPSL) (1997–2000) Detroit Shock (WNBA) (1998–2009) Detroit Fury (AFL) (2001–2004) |
The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly known as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Shock of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League, the Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League, the Detroit Neon/Detroit Safari of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, and the Detroit Fury of the Arena Football League.
The Palace was one of eight basketball arenas owned by their respective NBA franchises. The Pistons moved to Little Caesars Arena in Midtown Detroit in 2017 and the Palace was demolished in 2020.
By the time it closed as an NBA venue, the Palace was one of only two arenas that had not sold its naming rights to a corporate sponsor. The other was Madison Square Garden. [15]
The court was previously named the "William Davidson Court", in honor of late owner Bill Davidson, prior to the Pistons' home opener on October 30, 2009. His signature, along with the retired numbers, were removed from the hardwood when Tom Gores bought the Palace and were re-retired on its rafters as replacement banners. [16] [17] [18]
From 1957 to 1978, the Pistons competed in Detroit's Olympia Stadium, Memorial Building, and Cobo Arena. In 1978, owner Bill Davidson elected not to share the new Joe Louis Arena with the Detroit Red Wings, and instead chose to relocate the team to the Pontiac Silverdome, a venue constructed for football, where they remained for the next decade. [11] [19] While the Silverdome could accommodate massive crowds, it offered substandard sight lines for basketball viewing. In late 1985, a group led by Davidson decided to build a new arena in Auburn Hills. Groundbreaking for the arena took place in June 1986. [7] Using entirely private funding, The Palace cost a relatively low price of $90 million. [2] [11] The Davidson family held a controlling interest in the arena until Tom Gores bought it as part of his purchase of the Pistons in 2011. [2]
Then-Pistons owner Bill Davidson and two developers privately financed the $90 million construction of The Palace, and did not require public funds. [2]
The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, considered an exorbitant number when it opened, virtually all later consistently leased. In December 2005, the Palace added five underground luxury suites, each containing 450 square feet (42 m2) of space and renting for $450,000 per year. Eight more luxury suites, also located below arena level, were opened in February 2006. They range in size from 800 to 1,200 square feet (74 to 111 m2) and were rented for $350,000 annually. [20] The architectural design of the Palace, including its multiple tiers of luxury suites, has been used as the basis for many other arenas in North America since its construction. [21]
The Palace opened in 1988. [7] When one of its basketball occupants won a championship, the number on its address changed. Its address was 6 Championship Drive, reflecting the Pistons' three NBA titles and the Shock's three WNBA titles. [lower-alpha 1]
The Palace was widely considered to be the first of the modern-style NBA arenas, and its large number of luxury suites was a major reason for the building boom of new NBA arenas in the 1990s. Although the Palace became one of the oldest arenas in the NBA, its foresighted design contained the amenities that most NBA teams have sought in new arenas built since that time. By contrast, of the other NBA venues that opened during the 1988–89 season, Charlotte Coliseum, Miami Arena, the Bradley Center and ARCO Arena were considered obsolete relatively quickly, due to a lack of luxury suites and club seating, lucrative revenue-generating features that made pro sports teams financially successful in order to remain competitive long-term. [2] [21] [25] [26]
Nonetheless, Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) had spent $117.5 million in upgrades and renovations to keep the arena updated. [2] A new high definition JumboTron monitor, new LED video monitors, and more than 950 feet (290 m) of ribbon display technology from Daktronics was installed in the mid-2000s. [27]
On November 19, 2004, a fight broke out between members of the Pistons and Indiana Pacers after Pacers forward Ron Artest committed a hard foul on Pistons center Ben Wallace. As the on-court fight died down, a fan, John Green, threw a cup of Diet Coke at Artest, who then ran into the stands to fight another fan, Michael Ryan, whom he mistakenly believed to be responsible, and this immediately escalated into a full-scale brawl between other fans and players. The fight lasted for several minutes and resulted in the suspension of nine players (including Artest, who was suspended for the remainder of the 2004–05 NBA season and also the playoffs), criminal charges against five players, and criminal charges against five spectators. The offending fans, including Green, Charlie Haddad and A.J. Shackleford, were banned for life from attending games at the Palace. In the aftermath of the fight, the NBA decided to increase the security presence between players and spectators. The fact that the fight took place at the Palace led to it becoming colloquially referred to as the "Malice at the Palace" and the "Basketbrawl". [28] [29]
On July 22, 2008, nearly four years after this incident, another fight took place at the Palace, this time between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. This fight was dubbed "The Malice at the Palace II". [30] [31]
During his ...Nothing Like the Sun Tour on August 13, 1988, Sting became the first musician to perform at the Palace. [32]
Pink Floyd performed here on August 16–17, 1988, as part of their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. [33] [34]
Michael Jackson performed three sold-out shows during his Bad World Tour on October 24–26, 1988. [35]
Janet Jackson performed two shows here on August 22–23, 1990, as part of her Rhythm Nation World Tour. [36] [37] She returned July 30–31, 2001, on her All for You Tour. [38] [39]
On October 21, 1990 MC Hammer made a stop at the Palace as part of his Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em World Tour.
Aerosmith played the venue 14 times from 1990 to 2012. [40]
Grateful Dead performed at the Palace eight times from 1992 to 1995. [41]
Van Halen performed four shows on their For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour on February 21–22, 1992, and on April 3–4, 1992. [42] [43] [44] [45] They also performed consecutive shows during their The Balance "Ambulance" Tour on April 15–16, 1995. [46] [47]
U2 performed at The Palace on March 27, 1992, on the first leg of their Zoo TV Tour. During the performance, Bono called a local pizza bar from the stage and ordered 10,000 pizzas for the crowd in attendance. Approximately 100 pizzas were delivered. [48] They returned on May 30, 2001 for their Elevation Tour, and on October 24th and 25th, 2005 for their Vertigo Tour.
The Cure performed two consecutive shows, during their Wish Tour on July 18–19, 1992, with The Cranes as their opening act. The shows were recorded and released as a live album, entitled Show . [49]
Bon Jovi performed during their Keep The Faith world tour on March 2, 1993, their Crush Tour on November 18, 2000, their Lost Highway Tour on February 20 and July 7, 2008 and their Circle Tour in 2010. [50] [51] [52] [53]
The Palace was the site of an attempt on the life of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, while he was on tour, with former bandmate Robert Plant, during their No Quarter Tour. On March 31, 1995, Lance Alworth Cunningham, a 23-year-old who thought Led Zeppelin's music contained Satanic messages, tried to rush the stage with a knife. He was subdued about 50 feet from the stage. [54] [55]
Grand Funk Railroad performed a benefit show for Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1997 on their Reunion Tour. The show also featured Peter Frampton, Alto Reed, Paul Shaffer, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The performance was recorded, and released as the double-live Bosnia album in October of that year. [49]
Phish played at the Palace during their fall 1997 tour on December 6, 1997. [56]
The British group the Spice Girls performed at The Palace during their Spiceworld Tour on July 26, 1998.
Madonna performed two sold-out shows during her Drowned World Tour on August 25–26, 2001. The shows were recorded and broadcast live on HBO and were later released as a DVD, entitled Drowned World Tour 2001 . [57]
Prince brought his Musicology Live 2004ever tour to the Palace on June 20–21, 2004. He returned to the venue on July 31. [58]
Australian children's music group The Wiggles performed at the Palace on August 15, 2005 with their "Sailing Around the World Live!" tour, August 11, 2006 with their "Wiggledancing! Live On Stage" tour, August 15, 2007 with their "Racing to The Rainbow Live!" tour, August 12, 2008 with their "Pop Go The Wiggles Live!" tour, August 14, 2009 with their "The Wiggles Go Bananas! Live in Concert" tour, August 27, 2010 with their "Wiggly Circus" tour, July 29, 2011 with their "Ukulele Baby! Live In Concert" tour, and August 10, 2012 with "The Celebration Tour!".
Three Days Grace held a concert at the Palace on March 21, 2008, which was recorded and released on DVD. Live at the Palace 2008 is their only full concert video to date.
Taylor Swift, who opened for Brad Paisley at the Palace on October 4, 2007, [59] returned on March 26–27, 2010, playing back-to-back sold-out shows during her Fearless Tour. [60]
Coldplay performed a sold-out show at the arena on August 1, 2012 as part of their Mylo Xyloto Tour. The band came back to the arena on August 3, 2016 to perform for a sold out crowd of 15,436 as part of their A Head Full of Dreams Tour. [61]
In October 2016, it was reported that the Pistons' ownership were negotiating a possible relocation to Little Caesars Arena, a new multi-purpose venue then under construction in Midtown Detroit, for the 2017–18 season. Little Caesars Arena was initially designed for ice hockey to replace Joe Louis Arena as home of the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings, so some design modifications were needed to accommodate the Pistons. [62] [63] [64] On November 22, 2016, the team officially announced that they would play at Little Caesars Arena in 2017. [65] [66] [67] The final NBA game at The Palace was played on April 10, 2017, with the Pistons losing to the Washington Wizards, 105–101. [68] [69] This game ended a 42-year history of professional sports in Oakland County. [68] [69] [70] [71]
Bob Seger held the final concert at the venue on September 23, 2017. [72] [73] The last scheduled event at the venue was the Taste of Auburn Hills on October 12, 2017. [8] Palace Sports & Entertainment entered into a joint venture with Olympia Entertainment known as 313 Presents to jointly manage entertainment bookings and promotions for Little Caesars Arena and other venues owned by the firms. [74]
At its closure, the Palace was still in top condition as a sporting and concert venue, [72] but its location in a northern suburb, far from the city center, conflicted with a trend of "walkable urbanism" that the Pistons thought would grow their fanbase. [75] It was speculated that the Palace would likely end up being demolished, and the site would be redeveloped to accommodate a possible new auto supplier headquarters and research and development parks. [76]
In August 2018, the arena's Palace360 scoreboard, installed in 2014, was sold to the Arizona Coyotes to replace the old one at Desert Diamond Arena in time for the 2018–19 season. [77] [78]
In October 2018, it was reported Oakland University considered purchasing the arena. [79] Ultimately, a deal never went through. [80]
On June 24, 2019, the arena was sold to a joint venture, which planned to redevelop the property into a mixed-use office park. [81] Demolition of the arena began in February 2020. [82] Demolition was completed on July 11, 2020, when the roof was demolished using explosives by Controlled Demolition, Inc. [9] [83] General Motors purchased the site in 2023, to build a parts plant in support of its electric cars. [84]
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Little Caesars Arena, located in Midtown Detroit. The team was founded as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, a semi-professional company basketball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1937. The club would turn professional in 1941 as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL), where they won two NBL championships: in 1944 and 1945. The Pistons later joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948. The NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA in 1949, and the Pistons became part of the merged league. In 1957, the franchise moved to Detroit. The Pistons have won three NBA championships: in 1989, 1990 and 2004.
The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were a member of the original Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. They were the first team to play in Detroit since the Detroit Drive, four-time ArenaBowl champions, before that franchise relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts, and were rebranded the Massachusetts Marauders. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, who owned the Pistons, along with William Clay Ford, Jr., son of the owner of the National Football League Detroit Lions.
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Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed The Arena in Oakland until 2005 and Oracle Arena from 2006 to 2019. It is often referred to as the Oakland Coliseum Arena as it is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex with the adjacent Oakland Coliseum. Oakland Arena seats 19,596 fans for basketball.
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The "Malice at the Palace" was a fight involving both players and fans that occurred during a National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Indiana Pacers and the defending champion Detroit Pistons on November 19, 2004, at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Associated Press called it "the most infamous brawl in NBA history".
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Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) is an American sports and entertainment company owned by Tom Gores. Its largest subsidiary is the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association.
Tom Gores is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder of Platinum Equity, a private equity firm headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In June 2011, Gores and Platinum Equity became the owners of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons. He became the sole owner in 2015. As of July 2024, his net worth was estimated at $9.1 billion.
The 2003–04 NBA season was the 63rd season for the Pistons, the 56th in the National Basketball Association, and the 47th in the Detroit area. Despite a solid year the previous season, the Pistons received the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft, which they obtained from the Memphis Grizzlies. They selected Darko Miličić as their top pick, but only used him as a reserve as he played limited minutes off the bench; he would later be regarded as one of the most suboptimal picks in the history of the NBA draft. After their first trip to the Conference Finals since 1991, the Pistons hired Larry Brown as head coach. Under Brown, the Pistons were once again a tough defensive team as they went on a 13-game winning streak between December and January. However, after a solid 33–16 start, they struggled in February losing six straight games. At midseason, the team acquired All-Star forward Rasheed Wallace from the Atlanta Hawks after playing just one game for them. With the addition of Wallace, the Pistons won 16 of their final 19 games finishing second in the Central Division with a 54–28 record. Ben Wallace was selected for the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. The Pistons went on to win the NBA Championship for the third time in franchise history, with Miličić being the youngest player to win said championship.
The 2003–04 NBA season was the Lakers' 56th season in the National Basketball Association and 44th in the city of Los Angeles.
Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opening on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), respectively.
The 2016–17 Detroit Pistons season was the 76th season of the franchise, the 69th in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the 60th in Metro Detroit. It was the Pistons' final season at The Palace of Auburn Hills in nearby Auburn Hills, Michigan, ending a 42-year history of professional sports in Oakland County. They moved to the new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit for the 2017–18 season.
The 2017–18 Detroit Pistons season was the 77th season of the franchise, the 70th in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the first in Midtown Detroit. The Pistons moved from The Palace of Auburn Hills to the new Little Caesars Arena before the start of the season. This was the first season where the Pistons have played in Detroit on a regular basis since 1978. This would also be the last season with Stan Van Gundy being both the team's head coach and President of Basketball Operations.
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Preceded by | Home of the Detroit Pistons 1988–2017 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by none | Home of the Detroit Shock 1998–2009 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Host of Slammiversary 2009 | Succeeded by |