The Palace of Auburn Hills
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| The Palace of Auburn Hills | |
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| Location | 5 Championship Drive Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326 |
| Opened | 1988 |
| Owner | William Davidson (majority owner) |
| Operator | Palace Sports and Entertainment |
| Construction cost | $70 million |
| Architect | Rossetti architects |
| Tenants | Detroit Pistons (NBA) (1988–present) Detroit Shock (WNBA) (1998–present) Detroit Vipers (IHL) (1994–2001) Detroit Safari (CISL) (1994–1997) Detroit Rockers (NPSL) (1997–2000) Detroit Fury (AFL) (2001–2004) |
| Capacity | Basketball: 22,076 End-stage concerts: 23,000 Center-stage concerts: 24,276 |
The Palace of Auburn Hills, often referred to simply as The Palace, is a sports and entertainment venue in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Opened in 1988, it has the home of the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. Since 1998 it has also hosted the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. It was also the home of the now-defunct Detroit Vipers of the IHL (1994–2001), Detroit Safari of the CISL (1994–1997), and the Detroit Fury of the AFL (2001–2004). It has also hosted numerous concerts and other special events throughout its history.
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[edit] History
Before The Palace opened, the Pistons had lacked a suitable home venue. From 1957 to 1978, the team competed in Detroit's Olympia Stadium and Cobo Arena, both considered undersized for NBA purposes. 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 it remained for the next decade. While the Silverdome could accommodate massive crowds, it offered substandard sight lines for basketball viewing. A group led by Davidson bought vacant land in Auburn Hills from Joseph Shewach, and built the Palace there for the relatively low cost of $70 million, using entirely private funding. Davidson has held a controlling interest in the arena since its construction.
The arena opened in time for the Pistons' first NBA championship season, in 1988-89. Since then, when one of The Palace's basketball occupants has won a championship, the number on its address has changed. Its current address is 5 Championship Drive, reflecting the Pistons' three NBA titles and the Detroit Shock's two titles (the Detroit Vipers' 1997 Turner Cup Championship has not been officially recognized in the arena's address). The original address was 3777 Lapeer Road.
The first musical act to perform at the Palace was Sting, on August 13, 1988, followed by David Lee Roth, Pink Floyd and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
On November 19, 2004, the Palace was the home of one of the most notorious brawls in professional sports history, involving members of the Pistons, the Indiana Pacers and fans.
[edit] Capacity
The Palace of Auburn Hills is presently the largest arena in the NBA, which has helped the Pistons to record the league's highest home attendance from 2002-2008.
The Palace's large seating capacity (22,076 for basketball; up to 23,000 for end-stage concerts and 24,276 for center-stage concerts) and suburban location have also made it very popular for large concerts and, to a slightly lesser degree, major boxing matches. The arena's basketball capacity was increased from 21,454 to 22,076 in the summer of 1997.
[edit] Luxury suites
The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, considered an exorbitant number when it opened, but it has consistently managed to lease virtually all of them. 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 is size from 800 to 1,200 square feet (110 m²) and rent for $350,000 annually.
The architectural design of the Palace, including its multiple tiers of luxury suites, has been used as the basis for many other professional sports arenas in North America since its construction,[1] including Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, also designed by Rossetti Associates. One trend that the arena has not partaken in is that of selling its naming rights to a sponsor; it is one of four NBA arenas that has not done so, and just one of eight basketball arenas owned by their respective NBA franchise.
Although the Palace is now the one of the oldest arenas in the NBA, the Pistons have shown little interest in replacing it, as it already contains the amenities that most NBA teams have sought in new arenas. It is widely considered to be the first of the modern-style NBA arenas, and its large amount of luxury suites was a major reason for the building boom of new NBA arenas in the 1990s.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Last of its kind: Charlotte Coliseum to be demolished Sunday. ESPN.
- ^ Nothin' But Profit: Winning no longer key to new NBA. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
[edit] External links
- Official site of The Palace of Auburn Hills
- Aerial view from Google Maps
- Aerial View from Microsoft TerraServer
| Preceded by Pontiac Silverdome |
Home of the Detroit Pistons 1988 – present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by none |
Home of the Detroit Shock 1998 – present |
Succeeded by current |
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