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The Pontiac Silverdome was purchased by a Canadian company for a paltry 583k when it was built for 55.7m.
I just can't believe that it sold for this little. I know the housing market is bad, and commercial real-estate is terrible but... wow.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/17/news/economy/silverdome_buyer/
that is really sad
however, the huge negative is the silverdome itself. you have to consider demolition and removal of this structure in to the cost. the group that won is supposedly considering an mls franchise and there is no freaking way they could end up playing in that thing.
Personally, I think this would be awesome to have an MLS team. IME I don't think they would completely demolish the dome. I know there is no way to keep it as is, as an MLS team wouldn't draw enough people to even make it 1/8 full. OTOH, I don't think Pontiac/Detroit is enough of a soccer market that the team could afford to pay for the construction of a brand new stadium.
I think it's a better soccer market than you'd expect. Detroit has a long history with indoor soccer and there's a reason Detroit/Ann Arbor are near the top of the list for the US World Cup bid after hosting in 1994.
I'm not so much questioning the interest, but the economic viability of building a new stadium. I hope it's a viable proposition, because a new stadium and new economic opportunities in Detroit/Pontiac would be great, but if we have trouble filling all the seats at Joe Louis, I am worried about the proposition of filling seats in a non-big four sport.
That being said, as a big soccer fan I hope it works out and the popularity of soccer continues to boom in America and Michigan.
Joe Louis needs to be filled several nights a week, though. Soccer is a weekly sport. It shouldn't be a problem. Construction of a stadium would be a boon for the economy.
As I have no real facts to offer, I will just hope you are right. Having another successful sports franchise in a sport I like would be awesome.
We should have all chipped in and bought it.
I can see the headline now: "Pontiac Silverdome Purchased by Conglomerate of Michigan Football Fans."
"...the stadium was the former home of the National Foodball League's Detroit Lions..."
I don't know what the National Foodball League is, but it sounds scrumptious.
the place looked like a hole... much worse then it did when the lions were still playing there. i worked around the corner from it for 2 years and drove by it at least another 10 times a year to get to my aunts. and it looked worse and worse every time. at one point they were selling used cars in the parking lot.
So it's now a $583k drive-in movie "theatre," as opposed to a $55.7M one.
I'm so glad a mls team could be coming here, I will be first in line for season tickets
Has the city of Pontiac finished paying it off yet? (They're lucky at least that the place was built before construction costs skyrocketed.)
Over last few years the City of Pontiac had offers for the Dome in the neighborhood of $17-$20 million. A $500k sales price is disappointing. HOWEVER, at least they don't have to pay the $1 million + yearly maintenance costs.
You can buy a new car for a used car price if you don't mind buying Saturn. The discontinued car brand, not the planet – obviously. General Motors axed both Pontiac AND Saturn and has pulled a fast one on dealers, turning over ownership to them, which doesn't make a lot of sense, because dealerships can now classify them as "used" or rather, have to, for cars that have only been driven on test drives at most. Dealers will get up to $7,000 to put the cars in rental or service fleets – essentially paying them to take the cars, but why not just sell them at a deep discount? Last time I checked, GM needed a serious short term loan or two to stay open. I hope that this could help you guys!! For those car lovers out there!!
I can see this ending well...
I have a better idea than an MLS team, how about a CFL team!
