Anybody got a vacant hockey rink you're not using?
With the Red Wings not re-upping their lease for the crumbling
Joe Louis Arena, speculation is rampant that the Ilitch dynasty will
build a new home downtown Motown.
Mayor David Bing would love that and he said so in a private
conversation recently with Mike Bishop, the Republican in charge of the
Michigan Senate.
"There was nothing specific," Bishop recounts his side of the
chit-chat.
Since he revealed that talk took place, it made common sense to
ask if His Honor was hunting for any state assistance.
It's not exactly a new concept and millionaires always like to
have some public skins in the game so that their own check books are
not wiped out.
If you are an old timer, you recall the state coughed up
$800,000 a year for that white elephant known as the Silverdome in
Pontiac. And when there was chatter about a new Tiger Stadium, the
Lansing angle was in play.
So what about that Mr. Bishop?
"This is not the place to come looking for money," he advises as
he and his pals are trying to buy down a whooping $1.7 billion state
deficit at this very moment.
Bishop is content to let the Ilitch family figure this out as he
notes the Red Wing's franchise is "worth a great deal of money." Hence
the pizza guy should have "no problem finding the private dollars" to
find a place to drop the puck.
Bishop was also asked if he and Mr. Bing discussed the future of
the Pistons. Recall the former NBA star would like them to play in
Detroit over the objections of Oakland County Executive Brooks
Patterson.
You half expected Oakland County Senator Bishop to side with
Brooks, but he did not take the bait saying only that he wanted to keep
the Pistons in Michigan.
Actually they way they are playing…well let's not go there.