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The Detroit Red Wings will move into the brand new $627-million Little Caesars Arena after this season, turning the 2016-17 campaign into a farewell tour for one the NHL’s more historic buildings.

Joe Louis Arena opened in 1979 and replaced the old Detroit Olympia. Sitting along the Detroit river, the venue watched the Red Wings hoist four Stanley Cups, while it’s also served as a shrine to the old memories made at Olympia, which was demolished in 1987.

And “The Joe,” nearly never existed.

On April 1, 1977 the Red Wings announced they would be moving to a new arena in Pontiac, a suburban community 30 miles north of Detroit, across the street from the Pontiac Silverdome. The new arena would be named Olympia II and the Opdyke Investment Company was already laying the groundwork for 18,000-seat arena that would cost $15 million to build.

There were a couple roadblocks that had to be cleared, however.

First, the city of Detroit tried to sue the City of Pontiac for “pirating” jobs and industry, but the judge ruled in favor of Pontiac and the Red Wings. Then there was also the issue of funding, and whether to include public money, which was ultimately figured out by the end of April.

So four months after the official announcement, on July 15, then Red Wings owner Bruce Norris laid out the plan for suites and started selling them for $300,000 for a 10-year commitment. It looked like a certainty the Red Wings would be headed to the suburbs, just like the NFL’s Detroit Lions had in 1975.

But those suites in Pontiac never came to be.

The city of Detroit made one last pitch to keep the Red Wings four days later.

Lincoln “Linc” Cavalieri, who was the general manager of Olympia, facilitated a meeting with Detroit mayor Coleman Young on July 19, the sides met until roughly 1:30 in the morning, according to documents in Cavalieri’s personal collections housed on the University of Texas campus in Austin. With no agreement reached, the next day they negotiated until 3:30 a.m..

Roughly eight hours later an agreement was announced to a select few on the city council.

At first Detroit officials tried to sway Norris based on pride in the city, but ultimately were only able to keep the Red Wings by offering a better deal. They offered the Red Wings much cheaper rent, nearly one-third of the cost Pontiac was offering, while it also granted Norris operational control of Cobo Hall and nearby parking lots the city owned.

“In the end it was a business decision,” Cavalieri wrote in a letter in his collection. “And it’s going to work out well for both sides.”

Frankly, the late-night discussions in July 1977 might have saved downtown Detroit as a sports town. While the Lions and Pistons both had Detroit in their name, both fled to the suburbs in the 1970s. A third team making the push to Oakland County could have solidified it as Michigan’s sport capital.

But the Red Wings stayed and found success in Detroit, and eventually the Lions moved back from the suburbs. Now, the Red Wings new home will be built near Ford Field and Comerica Park, creating a minor sports mecca for the city.

And that wouldn’t be a reality without Joe Louis Arena standing a test of time.

The night that kept the Red Wings in Detroit