Tom Gores

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, left, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver, right, met this week, in part to discuss any long-term plans Gores may be formulating for a move downtown.

(AP Photo | Carlos Osorio)

HOUSTON -- The Detroit Pistons will leave their suburban home to move downtown. Time is the most obvious variable, but not the only one, perhaps not the biggest one. It will happen on this ownership's watch, because while Tom Gores runs a private equity firm that flips businesses to make money, the Pistons are worth keeping for that reason alone, and there is an emotional attachment and allure of membership in the billionaire boys' club of major sports ownership that he can't get from buying an undervalued chemical company or boat manufacturer.



It is not likely to happen soon. But the winds of change are swirling, and to think that the Pistons could be playing in their own downtown Detroit arena by 2025 is not such a distant thought.

The Pistons are committed to The Palace of Auburn Hills for now, and for good reason. They own it debt-free, people are showing up again because the product is better -- they averaged 16,067 fans for 21 home dates in the first half of the season -- and they keep all ancillary revenue.

When they move, Palace Sports & Entertainment still will have a huge suburban arena among its holdings, just one with 41 dark nights. If you're the owner of both arena and team, you would like to maximize the building before dislodging its major tenant.

Gores has said exactly what he means every step of this journey, and in his fifth season as owner, he said over the weekend that the Pistons are "investigating" downtown options and remain open to the idea. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was in Detroit and Auburn Hills this week, in part to discuss with Gores what progress has been made in that regard.

Gores emphasized that The Palace remains home, and keeping it "livable" is a priority, which could be for several more seasons, because it has been maintained remarkably well relative to other arenas its age.

However, there aren't many comparables in the neighborhood anymore.

The only NBA arenas older than The Palace are Madison Square Garden, the iconic-but-aged home of the New York Knicks, approaching 50 years in use in its current location; and Oracle Arena in Oakland, opened in 1966 and home to the Golden State Warriors since 1971. Bradley Center in Milwaukee and Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento opened within weeks after The Palace, and all were in service for the 1988-89 NBA season.

Of those, only the Knicks have no plans for a new arena. The Warriors, Bucks and Kings all will have new arenas by 2018. The Kings will move downtown from the suburbs. The Warriors will move across the bay to San Francisco.

Once those moves are complete, the only NBA teams not playing in the heart of their respective cities' downtowns will be the Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs.

So yes, The Palace eventually will be replaced. It is inevitable, and not many years distant.

Gores also wants to put a unique stamp on this franchise, not just buy and maintain something William Davidson had before him. Davidson moved the Pistons from Cobo Arena because it was old and the fan base had decayed, and had many good years in the Silverdome and later The Palace. Gores can be the owner who eventually returns the Pistons to downtown and succeeds there, which never happened before.

As much as fans in Detroit decry the move out of downtown, the Pistons' greatest successes, and the depth of their history, has been built in the suburbs, where they have played since 1978. This is the Pistons' 38th season in Oakland County, where they have won three championships. They played 20 seasons in Detroit, where they shared Olympia Stadium with the Detroit Red Wings for four years, played 16 more in Cobo Arena, and had a grand total of three winning records.

There may be a long future history to be written linking the Pistons firmly to downtown Detroit, but that history as we now know it isn't all it was cracked up to be.

As for sharing the new Red Wings arena, of course, that could be within the realm of possibility. Ten cities have arenas shared by NBA and NHL teams, and others have NBA and minor-league hockey teams. But there has not been much history of a relationship between the Pistons and Red Wings over the years.

Arn Tellem, the veteran sports agent, was hired for some specific reasons as Gores' special liaison this season. One was to establish a relationship with Red Wings ownership. Another was to investigate arena alternatives.

To what degree those interests may cross, it would have to happen quickly. Sharing an arena in which the Pistons are not the primary tenants would be a jolt after years as bosses of their own home. It may be one they don't want to absorb.

Beyond that, if the Pistons actually were to move into the new Red Wings arena, which is scheduled to open in September 2017, it would be best to do so immediately, not when the building is a few years old. The newness factor of an arena or stadium wears off fast. If you don't get in on it within the first couple of seasons, you miss out entirely on the crowds who just want to see the new building.

However Gores viewed the Pistons when he bought them, there is a legacy-building project at play here now.

Gores and his Platinum Equity partners bought the Pistons and related holdings for a bargain price, $325 million. Gores last year bought up the 49 percent of the Pistons that his partners held, and they all made a tidy profit. The Pistons probably would sell today for double what they fetched in 2011.

They aren't on the market.

Gores bought the rest of the Pistons because he wants them to be his, and put his own mark on them.

Part of his long-term plan will be when to move the Pistons, where to move them, and under what conditions.

He hasn't misled anyone on those plans yet. They are not immediate. They are not formulated. But they are being, as Gores said, investigated.

The Detroit Pistons will play in their namesake city again in time. There's a lot of basketball to play before that happens.

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