Last night, the Pistons lost their 14th straight game against the Washington Wizards 126-107. The Pistons hold the worst record in the NBA this season at 2-15. The upcoming schedule doesn’t offer any light of hope, with the Lakers, Knicks, Sixers, Pacers, and Cavs next up. This losing streak can drag on until the end of December! Fourteen thousand one hundred thirty-six fans booed Detroit off the floor. For a venue that holds 20,332 people, for them to have a 71% capacity for this game is a win. The move to Little Caesars Arena hasn’t brought the fans as people may have thought it would. You would argue that nobody wants to see the Pistons lose; well, considering their history, Losing hasn’t mattered too much. It makes you wonder if they should’ve moved from Auburn Hills to Detroit.
Deep Detroit Roots Before Moving North.
The Pistons’ origins in Detroit run deep. From 1957 to 1978, The Pistons called Olympia Stadium, Calihan Hall (Home to the University Of Detroit Mercy), and Cobo Center home. Unwilling to share the recently built Joe Lewis Arena with the Detroit Red Wings, Pistons owner Bill Davidson moved the team to play its games in the Pontiac Silverdome (Home to the Detroit Lions) in 1978. Trying to make it viable for a basketball crowd made this time unique in Piston’s History. The Pistons were #1 in attendance five straight years (83-87) and were 6th in the NBA in overall attendance from 1980-1988.
The Palace Set The Standard Of NBA Stadiums Today.
The Silverdome helped the Pistons through some tough times in its history, but the aesthetics weren’t for an NBA team. The Pistons moved into the State-Of-The-Art 22,076 Palace Of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan, during the 1988-89 season. The Palace held the distinction with Madison Square Garden as the only two arenas that hadn’t sold their naming rights to a corporate sponsor. The Palace was also one of eight basketball arenas owned by their respective franchises. The 90-million-dollar publicly financed arena held 180 luxury suites in the stadium, which was unheard of. During the Pistons’ first four seasons in the Palace, they were either 2nd or 3rd in attendance with an average record of 55-27.
The Fans Still Came Out.
When the team started to decline, The Pistons faithful still came out to support their squad. In 1992-93, The Pistons saw their first record below .500 since 1982, and they still were 2nd in the league in attendance. During the 93 & 94 seasons, the Pistons averaged 24 wins but were still in the top ten in attendance (5th and 8th respectively.) From 1995 to 1999, The Pistons were a middle-of-the-pack team, but they were still in the top 10 of attendance for four of those five years (16th in 1999-2000). This could be due to a lot of things. The ending of the “Bad Boys,” The drafting of Grant Hill, and The iconic transition to the teal color scheme. No matter what it was, good or bad, the fans still showed up for the Pistons until Grant Hill decided to leave.
The Going To Work Pistons.
There was no reason to go to a Pistons game when the Pistons traded Grant Hill to Orlando after the 99 season. Jerry Stackhouse was nice (29.8 PPG), but that’s all they had. Well, Ben Wallace had a lot to say about that. Coming out of Virginia Union University, Wallace went undrafted in the ever-so-popular 1996 NBA draft. After a stint in Italy and a few years with the Wizards and Magic, Wallace made the defense look fun, and his style of play resonated with the style the Pistons had made famous. The Pistons went from 22nd in attendance (1999-2000) to 11th (2000-2001.) Once the Pistons found the right nucleus with Chauncey, RIP, Tayshaun, and Rasheed down the line, The Pistons were #1 in attendance for four straight seasons and won a championship in 2004.
The Move Back To Detroit.
The Pistons began to see a decline in play after the 2007-08 season when they were knocked out of the conference finals by the Boston Celtics. They enjoyed one more year with the best attendance in the league (2008-09) and one more year as a top ten team in attendance (2009-10) before the quality of basketball and the fans took a dramatic dip. In June of 2011, Tom Gores bought the Pistons from Bill Davidson—owners who invest to make a profit expect to see a return on that investment. Gores wasn’t seeing that with this version of the pistons…
- 2010-11= 18th in attendance
- 2011-12= 28th in attendance
- 2012-13= 28th in attendance
- 2013-14= 26th in attendance
- 2014-15= 26th in attendance
- 2015-16= 25th in attendance (Playoffs)
- 2016-17= 25th in attendance
The team was terrible and wasn’t anybody about to make a 45-minute drive to watch the Pistons get beat by 20 points every night. Despite still having one of the best basketball stadiums, The writing was on the wall for the team to explore other possibilities. When Little Caesars Arena was being completed, The Pistons did something they were reluctant to do back in the early ’70s, and that was to share an arena with the hockey team.
Beautiful On The Outside, Terrible On The Inside.
The move back to Detroit seemed to be the beginning of the fanfare the team once had. That hasn’t been the case at all…
- 2017-18= 19th in attendance
- 2018-19= 24th in attendance
- 2019-20= 28th in attendance (COVID)
- 2020-21= 23rd in attendance (COVID affected)
- 2021-22= 18th in attendance
- 2022-23= 12th in attendance
- 2023-24= 24th in attendance (current)
This beautiful stadium has unique features, from the LED ceiling to the High-Definition scoreboard. And for those who complained about driving to Auburn Hills, the stadium is squarely in the heart of Downtown Detroit. The problem is the team still needs to be worth watching. LCA has only hosted two playoff games in its history. Granted, you’ve had players such as Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond on the team, but the talent in general hasn’t been good. When you go to basketball games, you go for the experience. Eventually, you want to see your team win, and constant losing will make the stands less with people.
In Conclusion.
If you don’t win, The fans won’t show up. The fans won’t show up if you don’t have that must-see player or team on the court every night. Detroit fans are tired of seeing a rebuild in a city that hasn’t seen a professional sports champion since 2008. The Lions have given us a slimmer of hope, the Red Wings are turning the corner, and the Tigers exceeded all expectations this past season. The only team out here going through it is the Pistons. The young talent is there, the coaching staff is there, the history is there. Detroit will regain its place as the best environment in the NBA when it all comes together.
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