For years, they've gone head-to-head in the metro Detroit concert market — rivals battling for shows, tour stops and fan dollars.

Now Olympia Entertainment and Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) have formed an alliance that shakes up the region's concert business.

Their joint venture is called 313 Presents, and has been quietly in the works since Tom Gores announced that his Detroit Pistons would migrate from the Palace of Auburn Hills to the new Little Caesars Arena, managed by the Ilitch family.

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The new company will handle show scheduling, production, marketing and media relations for six of the region's dominant venues: Little Caesars Arena, DTE Energy Music Theatre, Fox Theatre, Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, Comerica Park and Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill.

313 Presents expects to oversee up to 500 events annually at those facilities, not including the Pistons and Red Wings' games at the new arena.

The new era starts today with the rollout of a website — 313Presents.com — where show tickets will be sold for all six venues.

The arrangement reshuffles the long-standing status quo in the local concert business: With the suburban Palace, DTE and Meadow Brook in its dominion, PS&E long dominated the action. Down in Detroit, meanwhile, the Ilitches' OIympia played a secondary role via Joe Louis Arena, the Fox and occasional Comerica Park dates.

Now the Palace and the Joe are closed, Little Caesars Arena is open for business, and PS&E's duties have been folded into the new operation.

Olympia Entertainment president Tom Wilson — a former Palace executive himself — will act as interim head of 313 Presents as the company hunts for a full-time boss.

The entity 313 Presents will be a freestanding operation, initially employing about 40 people for work ranging from accounting to publicity, drawn from the existing staffs of Olympia and PS&E. The new company's offices are under construction at Little Caesars Arena and are expected to be ready in November.

Olympia Entertainment, based in the Fox Theatre building, will carry on with other roles it already handles, including business operations for the Red Wings, venue sales and sponsorships, and duties such as security.

Major tours are typically booked and routed by national promoters such as Live Nation and AEG Live, and 313 Presents will be working with them on those Detroit dates, just like PS&E and Olympia before it.

But Wilson said the company is also ambitious about pursuing its own bookings, ready to "take more chances" and incubate up-and-coming talent to "grow an artist from the Fox up to Meadow Brook up to DTE and even up to Comerica if possible."

"The more aggressive you are, the more often you leave the normal channels. I think we could be more aggressive as we try to find new acts and uncover new things," said Wilson. "But we anticipate Live Nation would be our most active partner, as they are (with venues) all over the country."

Notable venues outside the dominion of 313 Presents include Live Nation's Fillmore Detroit and Saint Andrew's Hall, AEG Entertainment's Royal Oak Music Theatre, and the Detroit Lions' Ford Field.

DTE, traditionally one of the top-grossing amphitheaters in the U.S., will become a focus of action in summer months, alongside fellow outdoor venues Meadow Brook and Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre. The Fox tends to kick into its busy season during fall and winter, and Little Caesars Arena is expected to be plump with marquee shows.

The arena opened with a six-show Kid Rock stand last month, followed by dates from Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney.

"For so long, arenas were built as homes for sports teams, and then the concert business was something else you did," said Wilson. "I think this is a strong message with a focus: (Entertainment) is your third tenant, one of your most important tenants, so let's make sure it gets all the assets and freedoms and responsibilities it needs to do well."

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.