Welcome to the countries most beloved Hockey city, Detroit! Home of the Detroit Red Wings established in 1926 the Wings joined the National Hockey League with 5 other teams to form the Original Six. Since then the Detroit Red Wings have won the most prized trophy in all of sports Lord Stanley's Cup, a grand total of 11 times. From 1935 to 2008 the Wings have been considered hockey royalty but following their 11th cup win the city has gone into a steep decline. The have a declining fan attendance rate and sit in last place for their division. On this blog I will be exploring the ups and downs of Hockey Town. For starters I'll be looking at the development of a new Hockey Arena in Detroit.
The New Joe Louis Arena
For the past 60 years the Detroit Red Wings have been playing out of the Joe Louis arena in downtown Detroit. The "Joe Lou" as the natives call it has seen a variety of Red Wings hoist the Stanley Cup and be named the best team in North America. However, the days of the Joe Lou are numbered because HOK Architect has developed a new Hockey arena for the Wings and their fans. HOK Architect is the leading architect company in stadium creations. They are the company who have remodeled and designed numerous sporting venues in American cities. HOK not only does American sports but worldwide sports and stadium buildings in places like Dubai and China. The Little Caesars arena will be located a block away from Tiger stadium where the Detroit Tigers play baseball.
The purpose of building the new stadium according to Tom Wilson, the owner of the Red Wings, is to create an atmosphere were the noise and excitement is contained in the lower bowl. Of the available 19,600 seats 10,500 of them are in the lower bowl of the arena. Wilson wants an arena were the fans can get right on top of the ice and have a more intimate experience with the game. George Heinlein, lead architect for the Little Caesars arena project, had this to say about the new rink “It will be one of the most intimate arenas in the NHL, if not the most intimate,”. “(The Red Wings) have coined it the baddest bowl in the NHL.” The arena stays true to its historic roots of being as loud as possible but making the experience outside the rink before and after the game as modern as possible. The inclusion of 6-8 pregame concourses on the bottom floor are intended to deepen the hockey experience. Little Caesars arena is trying to do something different by being the most flashy and modern hockey rink in modern history. From the open sky light with gondola seating to the 260 seat rink level elite suites the Detroit Red Wings have brought the centuries old game into the 21st century.
A stadium like this has got to cost some money and raise some eyebrows as to where the money is coming from. One thing the Sports Illustrated article didn't mention was just how much this arena costs. The Joe Louis is a great hockey stadium that doesn't need a update yet. Many Detroit natives are happy and content with the Joe Lou and don't want to see it go. The city could use the money it spent on the new arena to better more needy causes. source
Detroit White Wings
As of September of 2014 the NHL has 30 players of African American descent on their rosters. Some of the most notable are P.K Subban of the Nashville Predators (formerly the Montreal Canadians). His brother Jordan who is the goalie for the Boston Bruins farm team, Wayne Simmonds the Alternate Captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. Detroit however is one of only 8 teams who don't have an African American player on their NHL or AHL (American Hockey League) roster. This can create a bit of a problem for the city and the owners of the Red Wings. The city of Detroit is 81.6% Black and plays in front of an audience that is predominately white. If the team wants to appeal to a largely black population the GM and their owners should draft or recruit more Black talent. The Wings shouldn't go out of their way to acquire just any random Black prospect but should look to Philadelphia for answers.
Wayne Simmonds was drafted by the L.A. Kings in 2007 and was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2011. Since then he has climbed the ranks of stardom making 3 All Star appearances and putting the city of Philadelphia on the map. The demographics of the Flyers fan base has changed drastically since the addition of Simmonds. More than 20% of their average fan attendance identify as Black. If Detroit were to acquire someone like Simmonds they would have everything to gain. The massive Black population of Detroit would have something to cheer for in one of their most successful franchises. If Detroit were to get some serious Black talent on their roster you would see more and more Black Detroit natives attend the games. As of right now the majority of the Wings fan drive from the suburbs and into the city to see the games. A large majority of these fans are white with enough money to own season tickets and see every game in person. Detroit should model themselves after Philadelphia and in doing so would have nothing to lose.
Below is a brief interview with Simmonds talking about his trek to the NHL
I recently went to a fan forum for the Detroit Red Wings called LetsGoWings.com and asked the community the following question: "Do you guys think the lack of black talent in Detroit is a detriment to the city because of its large black population? Should the Wings purposely trade/recruit for black talent to appeal to the black population of Detroit?" I got a few response saying "No, if black people dont care about hockey in detroit then we shouldnt go out of our way to plz them." another user replied with "It would be nice to see some but if the Wings don't get any who cares? Hockey isn't the most diverse sport to begin with." The general theme I was starting to see was that the die-hard community didn't seem to mind or care of the lack of black talent nor should they (the GM and scouting teams) actively look for black talent. To me this means that the only way Detroit could acquire someone like Simmonds or a new, black, all-star rookie is purely by coincidence.
Hockey Royalty
Being apart of the Original 6 hockey teams in the NHL the Red Wings certainly have a lot to live up to. and so they have, accumulating 11 Stanley Cup wins. They are second in total cup wins behind Montreal with 24 (don't ask how they got so many). Their most recent win was in 2008 and back to back cup wins in 1997 & 1998. These victories came at a time when the city was off in the deep end struggling to provide any hope for their fans. Detroit has always been lead by an outgoing and headstrong captain like Steve Yzerman and Henrik Zetterburg. Thanks to these fine men Detroit was once again a top contender in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Since the days of Yzerman the Detroit Red Wings have made the playoffs 25 years in a row, their last missed post season was the 1989-1990 year. Detroit has always been used a measuring stick for teams who seek Lord Stanley's Cup. Both the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins have lost to Detroit and eventually to win the cup but the very next year in both cases the Hawks and Pens beat Detroit to win the Cup. This is one of Detroit's longest streaks of good fortune and it is more important than ever that they keep this streak up. Detroit is now an older team with tons of young talent but currently sits at the bottom of their conference. 2017 might be the first year in decades that Detroit doesn't make it in. All is not lost however, they are a few games out of the wild card spot and could keep the streak alive. Time will tell if Detroit can keep up their persona as one of the NHL's premier hockey teams.