Detroit -- The Ilitch family may be about to reshape where and how people watch sports and are entertained in Metro Detroit.

By issuing a statement Monday that he is interested in adding the Detroit Pistons to his family's empire, Mike Ilitch may have set in motion a process that keeps the team in southeastern Michigan and provides considerable leverage for a new sports arena in Detroit.

"When I read in the paper there was the chance that this great sports town could lose one of its professional sports franchises, I just didn't see how we could let that happen," said Ilitch, who presides over a domain that includes Little Caesars Pizza, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers and Olympia Entertainment.

A new facility is a high priority for the Red Wings, given the age and sparse amenities of Joe Louis Arena.

If the Ilitches complete the deal, they would be among the few owners of three major sports franchises in the same market. H. Wayne Huizenga owned the Dolphins, Panthers and Marlins in Miami simultaneously, and Time-Warner owned the Braves, Hawks and Thrashers in Atlanta.

"This is great news for Detroit," said Dan Gilbert, a Detroit native who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and is relocating 1,700 employees of his company, Quicken Loans, to downtown Detroit. "Major sports teams belong in the heart of urban cores, where they thrive the most and add to the vitality and connection to other important downtown businesses and attractions."

The sale of the Pistons -- and the Palace Sports & Entertainment Group -- remains a long-term enterprise, and there are likely to be competitors in the bidding. But there would be considerable synergies for the Ilitches.

The purchase of the Pistons might come at a reasonably low price, given the halting economic recovery and especially the longer-term decline in Michigan, according to experts on the sale of major sport franchises.
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http://www.detnews.com/article/20100810/...s#ixzz0wBtVajwz

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.