Update: New Red Wings arena to be called Little Caesars Arena
April 28th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
Time for a Deep Deep (dish) Playoff run
April 28th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
April 28th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
If it was up to me it would have been Gordie Howe Arena at Little Caesars Place but its not up to me, nor is the half a bill to build the place. People will bitch about greedy corporations and crappy pizza but personally I am ecstatic to have this new arena and especially where it's located. The Joe was always a shithole and in a terrible part of town that you can't get to with no place around there to grab a bite or a beer before the game. And something has to pay for us to see this great sport, which personally I have not bought an actual ticket for in years. I get to a few games a year and it is always when somebody has company seats that become available last minute. The rest of the time I watch world-class hockey for free on my 60-inch 4K television. They could call it My Little Pony Arena and I really would not have room to bitch.
April 28th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
Terrible Name. They could have sold the naming rights to someone else and made a boatload of money.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
You aren't considering the brand lift this would get Little Caesars and costs associated with that. If it is valuable to them, they will use it. Moreover, they would have done it with COPA, but Little Caesars was not doing national advertising then and they weren't doing well. Their financials are much better while Dominos, Pizza Hut and others struggle.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:23 AM ^
Brand lift only goes so far when you sell pieces of cardboard covered in fecal matter.
If anything, this takes the hockey brand down the toilet. I can't stomach the "food" & can't see why anybody would spend $5 on it, why spend considerably more to go to the arena?
April 28th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
It's pizza. Don't pretend you are too good for pizza. Personally, I'll eat Little Caesars. Frozen pizza, gas station pizzza. Any pizza. Pizza is fucking good. I don't care where it comes from.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^
I could upvote this. Pizza is good no matter how you slice it. :P
April 28th, 2016 at 11:33 AM ^
I see what you did there!
April 28th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
boy, that was really cheesy!
April 28th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
Technically you can. You just have to move your little mouse pointer over top of the up arrow and click on it.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
don't have an up arrow. Maybe a browser issue? I'm on Chrome.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
you need 100 MGoPoints to up/dowmvote.
April 28th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
Nevermind. I'm an ass. I'll help you get there.
April 28th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
Lou! +1 to you!
April 28th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
Ok. I know I'm not cool. But I only eat good pizza. Little Sleazers is not good pizza. I'd rather be uncool & enjoying good pizza while the cool kids eat whatever Illitch deems you worthy of.
Honestly, Little Ceasars is the worst pizza I have ever had. And that includes the $1 slice places. And Happy's (what was Burleson thinking?)
You guys can have it. I'll stick with good pizza. I won't even eat it if it's free.
Oh, and FYI: Illitch is counting on people not caring if pizza is even halfway decent, but just buying what resembles a pizza/.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:50 AM ^
April 28th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
I've always heard it as, "Pizza is like sex; when it's good, it's really good and even what it's not that good, it's still pretty good."
April 28th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
And eat pizza with your penis and drink from your finger?
April 28th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
April 28th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
April 28th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
Are you one of the brie and wine crowd I hear so much about?
Order "x" some flatbread with fingerling potatoes, shitake mushrooms, and truffle oil - but don't call it pizza.
April 28th, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
For less than 6 bucks it's pretty damn good. I'd take Little Ceasars over Pizza Hut any day, and Pizza Hut is twice as expensive.
Pizza Hut is the only pizza I won't eat. There's something funky about the flavor that just doesn't do it for me.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
Dominos is not struggling. They're killing it. Have you looked at their stock price since Dave Brandon left?
Pizza Hut and Papa John's are doing poorly, and Little Caesars is doing okay (hard to tell since they don't release financials), but Dominos is killing everyone.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^
I have multiple friends who work for corporate...they're expanding like mad. Things are going well there.
My local Caesar's is doing just fine. I'm friends with the owner.
How, you ask? Well, we're both from Michigan (though he left many years ago), so we talk Tigers. And, uh, I get pizza there a lot.
He feeds me good intel (for example, the Deep Deep Dish is at least partially inspired by Jet's Pizza--he left Michigan without knowing what Jet's was, but that was the information that came to him. Makes sense). He tells me they are selling just fine.
By the way, nobody who looks down their nose at cheap pizza has kids at home. Guaranteed.
Jet's is good pizza. I can see why they'd be inspired by that.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^
I just don't see it.
This article refers to the value to a company buying the rights - but talks about the lack of value it actually represents. This would speak to a lack of value for Mr. Ilitch putting his own brand on the stadium:
Historically, nothing indicates a positive ROI for these moves. Depending on how you quantify it, you could even make the argument that company value actually declines after purchasing the naming rights of stadiums. Citigroup needs a $300 Billion bailout 2 years after purchasing the naming rights of Met's Citi Field. Even fruit of the loom, with what was Pro Player Park, a sports friendly brand with a more than acceptable name for a football stadium, couldn't save them from chapter 11 bankruptcy. Of course in both of these cases one had nothing to do with the other. If owning naming rights to a stadium has a positive ROI on brand value, there's little proof to back that claim. In fact, even if by complete coincidence, there appears to be a negative correlation between the two. I will be no more likely to buy [Met Life Insurance]. I've even heard a few Giants fans proclaim that they'll, in fact, be less likely (from spite?). While I understand their frustration, I don't necessarily agree with their stance, but I certainly don't feel more compelled to go with Met Life either. For this purchase to have positive ROI, am I supposed to believe that they will earn $500 million more in profits if they hadn't done it? That's hard to imagine…even after 25-50 years. How many people would this need to convince? Where are they? I don't believe I've never met one. Not in NY, anyways.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^
Illitch could have sold the rights to someone and made money. Or he could use one of his companies to brand the stadium for significantly less than he would be able to at any other point.
The question is, what is the better outcome for Illitch and the Detroit sports teams. All Illitch profit is theoretically available to use to these teams in some way or another, it doesn't matter where it comes from. So if he believes branding the stadium for essentially free with his brand is a better ROI than selling the rights to someone else, then he's making the right decision.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
and thank you for the feedback. My concern is we are already seeing negative feedback. The twitterverse is aghast at this decision. This takes me to the salient point of the article where he says:
I will be no more likely to buy [Met Life Insurance]. I've even heard a few Giants fans proclaim that they'll, in fact, be less likely (from spite?).
Could he get ROI out of it? Sure. Could he also experience serious backlash against the company because of it? Possible as well.
Sold rights to Caesar's in Vegas and called it Little Caesar's Palace.
April 28th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
But Mike Illitch can do whatever the heck he wants, as far as I'm concerned. Think where Detroit sports would be without that guy?
Still - I wish they'd make it like "Little Ceasar's Yzerman Arena", or something - put somebody's name on it. Even just call it "Illitch Arena". I'm fine with that too.
April 28th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
April 28th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
The "Second place is first loser" argument is tiresome in general, but especially so in baseball, where the playoffs are basically a crapshoot. Under Ilitch the franchise has gotten to the playoffs, which is really all you can expect.
I'm not in love with the stadium he built and think the Tigers try too hard for a Brandonesque "wow" experience at the ballpark, but as far as spending what it takes to win, we can't ask for much more than what he's done.
Ilitch got a lot of flak in the early 00s for the fact that the Wings were great but that he seemed not to care about the Tigers.
He gave a press conference and said, basically, that critics had a point. And that he was going to do everything he could to make the Tigers a winner.
And that's exactly what he did. There's rarely a reason to be IMPRESSED with the actions of a team owner, but Ilitch's follow-through on a commitment that I thought was just a bluff was total.
They didn't win a title, but it's not for lack of trying. They made the World Series twice. They produced two different Cy Young Pitchers and two different MVP winners (of course, this makes the failure to win the Championship more painful). They were relevant, and in a time in my life where it is hard to stay in touch with friends and family due to distance, they were a personal touchstone to me and many other Michigan residents and ex-pats that we could enjoy and share together on a daily basis.
Ilitch made the Wings winners and he tried his hardest to make the Tigers as well. Those of us who are fans of those teams could not possibly ask for a better owner. We will miss him when he is gone.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^
he can certainly do whatever he wants...but he could have sold the naming rights and made some money...which ideally would have led them to actually SPEND some on talent.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
April 28th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^
They have all the money in the world. They chose to have this bankrolled by franchisees and probably cut back on marketing dollars instead of taking money in from someone else. I'm telling you, it is going to work itself out on the balance books and won't impact free agency.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^
Well there is a salary cap...the Wings we within $300k of the salary cap for 2015-16. Not exactly tons of room to spend on talent.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
I get it. I should have put a /s on there. Since the GM recently told the public they should be happy with the product they've gotten - I've heard plenty of people opine that this means we won't be a player in the free agent market. Also that this signifies a scaling back in financial commitments.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
The Salary Cap is the problem. Unless DRW is able to trade Datsyuk's contract to someone else to get them over the Cap minimum, they'll have over $12.5mil tied up in contracts to Datsyuk, Franzen (getting $4mil/year thru 2020) and Stephen Weiss.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
your statements are true. So is the statement that Kenny Holland needs to go because of your true statements.
People forget how hamstrung we are by these long-term contracts. We are paying Zetterberg over $6mil/yr through 2021 and Abdelkader $4.25mil/yr thru 2022. Ericsson is signed thru 2020 at $4.25mil/yr. That's $14mil going to a sadly aging former superstar, a guy one match penalty away from sinking a series, and a guy that makes us wish for Slava Fetisov...at 58 years old!
Zetterberg says we need to be aggressive this offseason. Kinda hard with all these untradeable contracts. We need the young guys to step up team because we're not bringing in any $7mil free agents. And after Tootoo and Weiss, I don't trust Holland's ability to sign a mid-level FA.
Of course that brings up another issue: How do you pay these young guys when they become eligible for free agency, like Mrazek, DeKeyser, Marchenko? And those are RFA's this offseason. It's a true cluster%&# and the current CBA expires in 2022, after these contracts are off the books.
We will eventually need to trade some of this young talent to stockpile draft picks.