OT: Pistons have new owner, but it's a secret
Someone I'm very close to was present today as the Pistons were signed over to a new owner. I can't say who because the person won't tell me, but they said it is someone local. I'd bet Mike Ilitch.
This should go public shortly. It's someone local, and that's all I care about. Just thought I'd share.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:05 PM ^
One can only hope.
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
Did you say hoke?
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:17 PM ^
Carlita runs the AutoMotion?
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:36 PM ^
Not sure Kwame would let Carlita near dancers again, either.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:45 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:11 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:02 PM ^
Matty Moroun (Detroit's own Mr. Burns).
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^
Moroun is a pretty old dude. Probably a little too old to be buying a professional sports franchise, and doesn't seem to be someone who gives a flying fuck about his legacy.
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
His money's all tied up in bridges and bribes.
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^
Is the beer on him?
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:51 PM ^
At least you know his mom would make sure nobody talked about y'all's boy.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
If it's Mike Ilitch I'm going to poop my pants
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:49 PM ^
Why?
One could argue that Illitch is not that great of a sports owner who just got lucky with Ken Holland. His allowances of Randy Smith, Jim Leyland, and Dave Dombrowski are well-documented.
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:44 PM ^
I'll give you that he gave Randy Smith too much leeway, but you can't knock on the job Dombrowski has done. The Tigers were an absolute LAUGHINGSTOCK when he took over.....
Leyland has his flaws, but he's a good manager. Better than most of those who have preceded him since Sparky retired.
February 4th, 2011 at 4:29 AM ^
They had $50 million come off the books last year, paid to guys who weren't contributing to them team any longer.
So, yes. I can knock Dombrowski. Leyland's teams have done one thing consistently -- CHOKE.
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:53 PM ^
Well Jimmy D was there before Holland and Illitch has given his teams a ton of money to spend. That's the most important part. Let the people who know what they are doing handle the hockey/baseball side of things. The Tigers are a shit ton better with DD and JL than they were before Illitch came.
February 4th, 2011 at 5:49 AM ^
Exactly. The Ilitchs are very much CEOs: They identify talented executives who fit with their family atmosphere and give them carte blanche to run their organizations while providing them with unlimited resources. He gambled on Randy Smith, hoping that his youth would be an asset. It ended up being a liability. It was an unlucky hire, more so than Jimmy D (who really built the Wings) was a lucky one.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
I think Tom Gores is still within his exclusive 30 day window, so I would bet him. Kind of local, born in Flint, went to State.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
They should at least hire someone with a college degree...
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:34 PM ^
You don't really hire an owner, just sayin.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^
i believe that expired a week or two ago bc i remember them discussing it on the radio as being near closed/already closed more than a week ago. could be wrong of course.
edit: nevermind, radio was wrong. 30 day window opened Jan 6/7 so it has to be him.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
If it's Gores, I bet Tom Izzo gets a serious offer at the end of the season, giving him an easy way out of his current downward spiral at MSU. If it's the Ilitch family, he probably won't, because Christopher Ilitch is a UM grad.
Whatever the case, I'm willing to bet that Kuester is out on his keester soon.
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:51 PM ^
So where members of an ownership group went to college affects who they are and are not going to hire to coach a professional franchise.
Got it.
February 7th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^
Hmm, something about Cleveland and LeBron... Comic Sans...
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:55 PM ^
If anything, I'd think a UM grad would want to hire Izzo away from his current employer.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID
KID ROCK!
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:35 PM ^
He is an American Bad-ass...
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:00 PM ^
and he eats grits sandwiches for breakfast.
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:03 PM ^
without a cause and 3 sheets to the wind, and he yodels in the valley.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:17 PM ^
Would be great to bring the Pistons back downtown and I bet the joint Pistons/Red Wings arena would be epic. Either way thats great news, now we can start dumping salary.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:23 PM ^
I hope so...that way the Pistons can stop ruining my drive home.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
property west of the Fox Theatre for 15 years. He's been planning the location of the replacement for Joe Louis since then.
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:31 PM ^
No offense but Detroit has enough problems, spending millions of dollars on a stadium should not be top priority.
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:00 PM ^
Exactly. He is basically looking to hold the city hostage by buying the Pistons/Palace by telling Bing he can have both the Wings and Pistons downtown or he can have them both in the suburbs. Why would people root for that?
Improving schools instead of shutting them down >>> Getting a cool new arena
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:56 PM ^
imagine 41 more games that could bring people into the city. How would this hurt? money would be made from parking, parking tickets,restaurants/bars, people mover, etc. 41 more games for people to go into the city is never a bad thing, no matter the cost. Plus, a bigger stadium= more taxes.
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:51 PM ^
The fact remains that the city has many more pressing needs to attend to, such as renovating Cobo before they lose the NAIAS.
February 4th, 2011 at 5:56 AM ^
The city is currently throwing assloads of money into a new police HQ and expanding Cobo, so it's not like the choice is between feeding children and building a new arena... given the choice between a selfish pet project that only benefits city politicians and a project that is vital to helping turn downtown around, I'd pick the latter.
Also, even though it shouldn't have to be said at this point, the arena would be funded by an extension of the hotel tax just like Ford Field and Comerica Park. No money would be taken from the city, it would all be new tax money.
February 3rd, 2011 at 6:52 PM ^
You really think Illitch would give two shits about making the Pistons a good team again?
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
be good and Izzo should coach. Denise is UM Regent too.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
I don't think there's any chance it's Ilitch if the transaction has already been completed. Gotta be Gores.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
Why would this be a secret? I don't get it.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:38 PM ^
If his friend was present, he's quite possibly an attorney and bound by the rules of confidentiality not to disclose anything.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
Kid Rock or Eminem...
Seriously, probably Gores.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:07 PM ^
The little guy rolls deep.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^
Just over two weeks for Joe D to get some business done.
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:10 PM ^
i'm gonna make a Bleacher Report article claiming this is untrue in order to get it to happen