Let's take a break in the NFL and Lions action for a while and shift over to another Detroit story. Tiger Stadium, one of the most storied ballparks in the history of the MLB is scheduled to be torn down. In 1999, the Tigers moved from Tiger Stadium to the newly-built Comerica Park in downtown Detroit. Since then, Tiger Stadium has been vacant and really has been falling apart.
For the past few months the city of Detroit has been looking for a contractor to renovate and refurbish Tiger Stadium into something that could be used for different events. There was no luck in finding a good plan, so Kwame Kilpatrick had to come up with a different one. We now know that the plan is to demolish the stadium and put up new homes and stores in its place.
I would've liked to see a plan that called for a renovation of Tiger Stadium, because a historic place like that shouldn't end up being torn down. The best thing that could've happened to Tiger Stadium is for a minor league team, college team, or high school teams from around the area to move in and play there. Since all chances of that happening are basically gone, let's look at the plan that is proposed.
The demolition will cost $2-$6 million. The part of the stadium that is torn down will be filled with 150 to 300 homes and retail space. Some of the stadium will actually be salvaged for a historic site as well as a little league park. That's about the best part of the whole deal as kids will have a place to play and the entire stadium won't be gone.
For those sports memorabilia collectors, pieces of the stadium are scheduled to be sold to the public starting in October. If the price isn't too high I may have to pick up a seat or two for a memory of it.