A move downtown by the Detroit Pistons from the Palace of Auburn Hills would have a big impact on the local market for concerts and events — and could mean fewer of them.

Talks by the NBA team to join the Detroit Red Wings at 20,000-seat Little Caesars Arena when it opens in September 2017 have spawned speculation that the Palace, built in 1988, would be demolished so it can't compete with the new arena.

There's already precedent for demolition: The city of Detroit agreed that 20,000-seat Joe Louis Arena, which it built for $30 million in 1979 as a home for the Red Wings, will be razed after the team leaves. That's because the Ilitch family, which is building $627.5 million Little Caesars Arena for its Red Wings with a mix of public and private money, didn't want Joe Louis competing for event dollars.

One of the negotiation points between Ilitch-owned Olympia Entertainment and Pistons owner Tom Gores' Palace Sports & Entertainment is the future of the Palace.

Neither organization would comment on the potential fate of the Palace. Gores and his aides have said they want to ensure that value for the Palace is realized in any downtown move.

Possibilities include the Palace being torn down in return for the Pistons getting favorable financial terms as a Little Caesars Arena tenant, or the Ilitches could buy the Palace and other entertainment holdings from Gores. The sides have acknowledged they're in talks, and with Little Caesars Arena less than a year from opening, sources have said negotiations have accelerated.

In terms of revenue, it's a near certainty the Palace will lose business to Little Caesars Arena. Entertainment industry insiders expect Little Caesars Arena to be the first choice for concert promoters, siphoning business away from the Palace.

"The new arena will certainly impact the market. Artists love to play new buildings, in part because they are state-of-the-art venues built with acoustics in mind, but especially because fan support is nearly always better if the building is new," said Gary Bongiovanni, president and editor-in-chief of concert industry trade magazine Pollstar.

In other words, acts would make more money playing the new arena. Olympia is forecasting 140 events a year atop the 41 Red Wings home games. The Palace has 41 Pistons games, but its number of concerts and events fluctuates based on tour schedules. It had 213,599 patrons for non-Pistons touring events last year, down from 279,098 in 2014 and 460,835 in 2013, according to Pollstar data.

What could save the Palace is Olympia buying out Palace Sports & Entertainment, giving the Ilitches a monopoly on much of the region's entertainment venues.

"Controlling multiple facilities makes it better for them because they could steer a show where they need it," Bongiovanni said.

PS&E holdings include the Palace, DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, and the contract to operate Meadow Brook Amphitheater in Rochester Hills on behalf of Oakland University. PS&E in November 2015 signed a contract to co-manage Freedom Hill Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights from Novi-based venue owner Luna Entertainment.

Gores paid $325 million for the Pistons and PS&E. The Ilitches in 2010 announced interest in buying the team, too, but talks broke down. How much Gores would want for PS&E is unknown, or even if the topic has been broached. Former longtime PS&E top executive Tom Wilson, who oversaw construction of the Palace, became president of rival Olympia in 2010, further adding an element of intrigue to the possibility of an expanded Ilitch entertainment empire (which also includes Comerica Park, Fox Theatre and City Theatre).

Gores grew up in Flint and went on to become a billionaire in private equity. He's announced an initiative to become more involved in Detroit and Michigan via business, civic and philanthropic investments. Moving the Pistons downtown is seen as part of that, and theoretically he could construct his own arena in the city.

However, Bongiovanni can't envision Gores building his own downtown arena.

"The Palace is still a very functional building, and with the new Red Wings arena, it will be hard to make the economics work for adding another venue in a market where the economy is not very robust," he said.

The Palace is widely touted as an excellent sports and event facility despite it being the second-oldest in the National Basketball Association.

Former Pistons owner Bill Davidson, whose death in 2009 led to the team's sale, built the Palace in 1988 for $90 million out of his own pocket. He spent an additional $112.5 million in subsequent renovations. Gores has spent more than $40 million in renovations and upgrades, including a three-year replacement of all 22,000 seats in a project scheduled to wrap up in 2017.

Is he willing to view that investment as a sunk cost to get the team downtown? One possibility is that the Palace's operational and maintenance costs are financially cumbersome, and those expenses would be off his books if the Pistons were a tenant at Little Caesars Arena.

How revenue would be split at the new arena is known to be among the negotiating points for relocation. Cash from tickets, suites, club seats, corporate sponsorships, concessions, parking, etc., creates revenue streams that benefit not only the teams, but are factors in how revenue sharing apportionment is calculated in the NBA and National Hockey League's collective bargaining deals with their players.

Hence, the Pistons-to-Detroit talks are deeply complex, and could end up stymied.

Another factor is that nearly 100 days a year will be obligated to the two teams, leaving fewer dates for lucrative concerts and events. That's less cash coming in the door, and fewer entertainment options for fans.

"If you have an NHL and NBA team in the arena, that's going to eat up an awful lot of the dates artists may be looking for," Bongiovanni said. "The A-level tours may find it difficult to find the open date they want. It's always a delicate dance with that kind of stuff."

He cited the example of the Staples Center in Los Angles. The venue, opened in 1999, is home to basketball's Lakers, Clippers and Sparks, and hockey's Kings.

"It's really hard to get dates in there if you're a concert," he said. Most are in the offseason, such as eight Adele concerts in August.

That worry was echoed by longtime Detroit music promoter Jason Huvaere.

"I would suspect if we only have one single venue to choose from, with two pro sports teams, we'll have some challenges in scheduling," said Huvaere, co-founder of Paxahau Promotions Group LLC, which stages the annual Movement electronic music festival in Hart Plaza.

The building's behind-the-scenes infrastructure and technology — from the number of loading docks, stage size, to the awesomeness of the acoustics and sound system — are criteria that promoters consider when picking locations, Huvaere said.

"All those things play a role in venue selection," he said.

Metro Detroit, with its diverse mix of stadiums, arenas, amphitheaters, theaters, and clubs, remains a popular destination for concert tours of all sizes. It's not, however, among the must-play markets, Bongiovanni said. That's a short list that includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.

With a wave of arenas opening in the past couple of decades in smaller markets, tours have no shortage of options if they cannot find a venue and date in Detroit, he said. Artists and shows also can opt to add Detroit on a later leg of a tour, he added.

"Artists only doing 20 to 30 shows, there's a lot of competition for them," Bongiovanni said.

Scheduling a tour is most often driven by how much money can be generated, he said. That's because the business structure of the music industry has shifted revenue from record sales to concert tours, he said.

"That's how artists make money today, from touring. Not from records," he said. "If you want to pay your mortgage, you've got to tour."

Another factor in the choice of concert venues is psychology, Bongiovanni said.

"Sometimes it's the artist projecting where they think their audience would like them to perform," he said.