Detroit is in Detroit?

News bubbled up today that the Ilitch clan, owners and proprietors of most of the fun things to do downtown, are interested in purchasing the Detroit Pistons and moving them downtown. This would be a ridiculous outcome. I don't own three of anything, let alone three professional sports teams. Once I owned two pizzas and was thinking of buying a third, but the time I got around to buying a third, I had already eaten one of the pizzas, so technically the purchase was really only a second pizza.

On one hand, it would be pretty amazing to put another Detroit team inside the boundaries of the city, possibly resulting in some variety of positive economic impact on our poor major city. It would be hard to argue that Comerica and Ford Field have no positive benefit to the city, especially on game days and nights. If the Ilitches do get the Pistons and build a new arena for the Red Wings+Pistons, all four of Michigan's major sports teams would likely be in a less than one mile radius from each other. I can't think of any city in the country that has any setup like that. Detroit could be FootBaseketey Town instead of just "Hockey Town". Think of the T-Shirts: "Hey, Hey, FootBaseketey Town". Everyone would ask you what the hell is up with your shirt, but that wouldn't make it a less awesome shirt. In addition to this, the Ilitches buying the team would keep the Pistons from leaving the state, and right now, there is a pretty decent chance that out-of-state investors would buy the team and move them somewhere super duper crappy like Las Vegas. Las Vegas! Nothing could possibly be worse.

On the other hand, the suburbs like Pontiac and Auburn Hills really depend on their sports arenas. One sports arena doesn't turn a city like Pontiac around, but there is some really intense sadness around the mostly ghost town of the Silverdome. It looks more like an alien ghost town than a human ghost town, but it's still kind of depressing - even with the new ownership and occasional events. There is pretty much nothing to do or see in Auburn Hills except The Palace and Chrysler HQ, and Lord knows there is not much going on at Chrysler HQ. The people in Auburn Hills don't deserve blight any more than the people in Detroit.

Taking into account these pros and cons (there are lots more of both but these are the ones I want to address right now), but without a doubt if I had to choose between losing the Pistons or gaining FootBaseketey Town, I'm all in for FootBaseketey Town.