The Palace was one of eight basketball arenas owned by their respective NBA franchises. The Pistons moved to Little Caesars Arena in Midtown Detroit in 2017 and the Palace was demolished in 2020.
Naming
By the time it closed as an NBA venue, the Palace was one of only two arenas that had not sold its naming rights to a corporate sponsor. The other was Madison Square Garden.[15]
The court was previously named the "William Davidson Court", in honor of late owner Bill Davidson, prior to the Pistons' home opener on October 30, 2009. His signature, along with the retired numbers, were removed from the hardwood when Tom Gores bought the Palace and were re-retired on its rafters as replacement banners.[16][17][18]
History
Background
From 1957 to 1978, the Pistons competed in Detroit's Olympia Stadium, Memorial Building, and Cobo Arena. 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 they remained for the next decade.[9][19] While the Silverdome could accommodate massive crowds, it offered substandard sight lines for basketball viewing. In late 1985, a group led by Davidson decided to build a new arena in Auburn Hills. Groundbreaking for the arena took place in June 1986.[3] Using entirely private funding, The Palace cost a relatively low price of $90 million.[7][9] The Davidson family held a controlling interest in the arena until Tom Gores bought it as part of his purchase of the Pistons in 2011.[7]
Construction
Then-Pistons owner Bill Davidson and two developers privately financed the $90 million construction of The Palace, and did not require public funds.[7]
The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, considered an exorbitant number when it opened, virtually all later consistently leased. 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 in size from 800 to 1,200 square feet (74 to 111 m2) and were rented for $350,000 annually.[20] The architectural design of the Palace, including its multiple tiers of luxury suites, has been used as the basis for many other arenas in North America since its construction.[21]
Basketball
The Palace opened in 1988.[3] When one of its basketball occupants won a championship, the number on its address changed. Its address was 6 Championship Drive, reflecting the Pistons' three NBA titles and the Shock's three WNBA titles.[a]
The Palace was widely considered to be the first of the modern-style NBA arenas, and its large number of luxury suites was a major reason for the building boom of new NBA arenas in the 1990s. Although the Palace became one of the oldest arenas in the NBA, its foresighted design contained the amenities that most NBA teams have sought in new arenas built since that time. By contrast, of the other NBA venues that opened during the 1988–89 season, Charlotte Coliseum, Miami Arena, the Bradley Center and ARCO Arena were considered obsolete relatively quickly, due to a lack of luxury suites and club seating, lucrative revenue-generating features that made pro sports teams financially successful in order to remain competitive long-term.[7][21][25][26]
Nonetheless, Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) had spent $117.5 million in upgrades and renovations to keep the arena updated.[7] A new high definition JumboTron monitor, new LED video monitors, and more than 950 feet (290 m) of ribbon display technology from Daktronics was installed in the mid-2000s.[27]
On November 19, 2004, a fight broke out between members of the Pistons and Indiana Pacers after Pacers forward Ron Artest committed a hard foul on Pistons center Ben Wallace. As the on-court fight died down, a fan, John Green, threw a cup of Diet Coke at Artest, who then ran into the stands to fight another fan, Michael Ryan, whom he mistakenly believed to be responsible, and this immediately escalated into a full-scale brawl between other fans and players. The fight lasted for several minutes and resulted in the suspension of nine players (including Artest, who was suspended for the remainder of the 2004–05 NBA season and also the playoffs), criminal charges against five players, and criminal charges against five spectators. The offending fans, including Green, Charlie Haddad and A.J. Shackleford, were banned for life from attending games at the Palace. In the aftermath of the fight, the NBA decided to increase the security presence between players and spectators. The fact that the fight took place at the Palace led to it becoming colloquially referred to as the "Malice at the Palace" and the "Basketbrawl".[28][29]
U2 performed at The Palace on March 27, 1992, on the first leg of their Zoo TV Tour. During the performance, Bono called a local pizza bar from the stage and ordered 10,000 pizzas for the crowd in attendance. Approximately 100 pizzas were delivered.[48] They returned on May 30, 2001 for their Elevation Tour, and on October 24th and 25th, 2005 for their Vertigo Tour.
The Cure performed two consecutive shows, during their Wish Tour on July 18–19, 1992, with The Cranes as their opening act. The shows were recorded and released as a live album, entitled Show.[49]
The Palace was the site of an attempt on the life of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, while he was on tour, with former bandmate Robert Plant, during their No Quarter Tour. On March 31, 1995, Lance Alworth Cunningham, a 23-year-old who thought Led Zeppelin's music contained Satanic messages, tried to rush the stage with a knife. He was subdued about 50 feet from the stage.[54][55]
Australian children's music group The Wiggles performed at the Palace on August 15, 2005 with their "Sailing Around the World Live!" tour, August 11, 2006 with their "Wiggledancing! Live On Stage" tour, August 15, 2007 with their "Racing to The Rainbow Live!" tour, August 12, 2008 with their "Pop Go The Wiggles Live!" tour, August 14, 2009 with their "The Wiggles Go Bananas! Live in Concert" tour, August 27, 2010 with their "Wiggly Circus" tour, July 29, 2011 with their "Ukulele Baby! Live In Concert" tour, and August 10, 2012 with "The Celebration Tour!".
Three Days Grace held a concert at the Palace on March 21, 2008, which was recorded and released on DVD. Live at the Palace 2008 is their only full concert video to date.
Coldplay performed a sold-out show at the arena on August 1, 2012 as part of their Mylo Xyloto Tour. The band came back to the arena on August 3, 2016 to perform for a sold out crowd of 15,436 as part of their A Head Full of Dreams Tour.[61]
Replacement and demolition
In October 2016, it was reported that the Pistons' ownership were negotiating a possible relocation to Little Caesars Arena, a new multi-purpose venue then under construction in Midtown Detroit, for the 2017–18 season. Little Caesars Arena was initially designed for ice hockey to replace Joe Louis Arena as home of the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings, so some design modifications were needed to accommodate the Pistons.[62][63][64] On November 22, 2016, the team officially announced that they would play at Little Caesars Arena in 2017.[65][66][67] The final NBA game at The Palace was played on April 10, 2017, with the Pistons losing to the Washington Wizards, 105–101.[68][69] This game ended a 42-year history of professional sports in Oakland County.[68][69][70][71]
Bob Seger held the final concert at the venue on September 23, 2017.[72][73] The last scheduled event at the venue was the Taste of Auburn Hills on October 12, 2017.[5] Palace Sports & Entertainment entered into a joint venture with Olympia Entertainment known as 313 Presents to jointly manage entertainment bookings and promotions for Little Caesars Arena and other venues owned by the firms.[74]
At its closure, the Palace was still in top condition as a sporting and concert venue,[72] but its location in a northern suburb, far from the city center, conflicted with a trend of "walkable urbanism" that the Pistons thought would grow their fanbase.[75] It was speculated that the Palace would likely end up being demolished, and the site would be redeveloped to accommodate a possible new auto supplier headquarters and research and development parks.[76]
In August 2018, the arena's Palace360 scoreboard, installed in 2014, was sold to the Arizona Coyotes to replace the old one at Desert Diamond Arena in time for the 2018–19 season.[77][78]
In October 2018, it was reported Oakland University considered purchasing the arena.[79] Ultimately, a deal never went through.[80]
On June 24, 2019, the arena was sold to a joint venture, which planned to redevelop the property into a mixed-use office park.[81] Demolition of the arena began in February 2020.[82] Demolition was completed on July 11, 2020, when the roof was demolished using explosives by Controlled Demolition, Inc.[6][83]General Motors purchased the site in 2023, to build a parts plant in support of its electric cars.[84]
^The Vipers' 1997 Turner Cup championship was not officially recognized in the arena's address; the address also remained unchanged despite the Shock's move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2010; that team is now known as the Dallas Wings.[22][23][24]