Joe Louis Arena

Joe Louis Arena

The Joe
Address	19 Steve Yzerman Drive
Location	Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates	42°19′31″N 83°3′5″W / 42.32528°N 83.05139°W / 42.32528; -83.05139Coordinates: 42°19′31″N 83°3′5″W / 42.32528°N 83.05139°W / 42.32528; -83.05139
Owner	City of Detroit
Operator	Olympia Entertainment
Capacity	Ice hockey: 19,275 (1979–1989) 19,875 (1989–1996) 19,983 (1996–2000) 19,995 (2000–2001) 20,058 (2001–2003) 20,066 (2003–2014) 20,027 (2014–2017) Basketball: 20,153 Concerts: 21,666[1]
Construction
Broke ground	May 16, 1977[2]
Opened	December 12, 1979
Closed	July 30, 2017
Construction cost	US$57 million ($192 million in 2017 dollars[3])
Architect	SmithGroupJJR
General contractor	Barton Malow[4]
Tenants
Detroit Red Wings (NHL) (1979–2017) Detroit Pistons (NBA) (1985) Detroit Drive (AFL) (1988–1993) Detroit Turbos (MILL) (1989–1994) Detroit Compuware Ambassadors (OHL) (1991–92) Detroit Junior Red Wings (OHL) (1992–1995) Detroit Rockers (NPSL) (1996–2000)

Inside Joe Louis Arena.

The retired numbers of former Detroit Red Wings players displayed at Joe Louis Arena.

Panorama of Joe Louis Arena in April 2008.

The Detroit Shock practice at Joe Louis Arena before Game 5 of the 2006 WNBA Finals.

Joe Louis Arena is a defunct multi-purpose arena in Detroit, Michigan. Completed in 1979 at a cost of $57 million as a replacement for the Detroit Olympia, it sits adjacent to Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and is accessible by the Joe Louis Arena station on the Detroit People Mover. The venue is named after former heavyweight champion boxer Joe Louis, who grew up in Detroit.

It was the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League^[5] and the second oldest NHL venue after Madison Square Garden until the start of the 2017–18 NHL season. Joe Louis Arena is owned by the city of Detroit, and operated by Olympia Entertainment, a subsidiary of team owner Ilitch Holdings.^[6]

In April 2017, the Red Wings hosted their final game at Joe Louis Arena; the venue was succeeded by the new Little Caesars Arena, in Midtown Detroit, for the 2017–18 season. Joe Louis Arena will be demolished, and its site slated for redevelopment. The arena closed on July 30, 2017. Demolition was scheduled to begin in September, but Olympia renewed the lease of the arena with the city and are using it as storage and offices until November. Olympia Entertainment moved out in November, and demolition is planned to begin sometime in 2019.^[7]

History

Joe Louis Arena replaced the Olympia Stadium, where the Detroit Red Wings had played since 1927. The neighborhood around the Olympia had gradually deteriorated, especially after the 1967 Detroit riot. After two murders near the Olympia, Red Wings owner Bruce Norris seriously considered moving to a proposed arena in suburban Pontiac. However, the city of Detroit countered with a proposal for a new riverfront arena at one-third of the rent Pontiac was offering. The package also gave the Red Wings operational control of the arena, nearby Cobo Arena and nearby lots.

The arena hosted its first event on December 12, 1979: a college basketball game between the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit. The Red Wings played their first game at Joe Louis Arena on December 27, 1979, hosting the St. Louis Blues.^[8] Later that first season it hosted the 32nd NHL All-Star Game on February 5, 1980,^[9] which was played before a then-NHL record crowd of 21,002. Joe Louis Arena was the site of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, which marked the first NHL Entry Draft to be held in the United States. In 1980, the arena hosted the Republican National Convention that nominated Ronald Reagan as the Republican candidate for President of the United States.

The electronic scoreboard at Joe Louis Arena, during a game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings on March 9, 2007

In 1990, color matrix boards were installed on the scoreboard; these were replaced by four Sony JumboTron video walls three years later, when the matrix boards were placed in the corners of the fascia. In 2006, LED video screens replaced the JumboTrons. The screens debuted November 22, 2006, when the Red Wings played the Vancouver Canucks. That same day, the arena's West Entrance was named the "Gordie Howe Entrance" in honor of the legendary Red Wing player, and a bronze statue of Howe was placed inside the entrance. Joe Louis Arena houses 86 premium suites.^[10] In 2008, the arena introduced the Comerica Bank Legend's Club, a 181-person private seating location in the arena's southeast corner.^[5]

Other tenants and events

In 1995, the Detroit Junior Red Wings won the Ontario Hockey League's J. Ross Robertson Cup, defeating the Guelph Storm.

Joe Louis Arena hosted college hockey events as part of College Hockey at The Joe, the Great Lakes Invitational, and the Big Ten Conference hockey tournament in 2015 and 2017.^[17]

The Detroit Pistons of the NBA used the arena for Game 5 of their 1984 playoff series against the New York Knicks when the Pontiac Silverdome was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. In the game, Pistons star Isiah Thomas scored 16 points in the final 1:34 of regulation to send the game into overtime before the Pistons lost. The Pistons were forced to return to Joe Louis Arena for 15 games during the 1984–85 season, after the roof of the Silverdome collapsed during a snowstorm.

The National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings hosted the Stanley Cup Finals at the arena six times (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, and 2009), and won two of their Stanley Cup championships at Joe Louis Arena in 1997 and 2002. The 1998 Stanley Cup championship was won in Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center and the 2008 championship was won in Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena. The Red Wings lost in the Finals to New Jersey in 1995 at the Meadowlands Arena and lost on home ice in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals to Pittsburgh.

Joe Louis Arena was the site of the decisive Game 5 of the 2006 WNBA Finals between the Sacramento Monarchs and Detroit Shock on September 9, due to The Palace of Auburn Hills (the Shock's usual home arena) being used for a Mariah Carey concert on the same day. The Shock won the game 80–75 to clinch the championship.

Former Arena Football League team the Detroit Drive also had success during their time at the arena, playing in six consecutive ArenaBowls from 1988 to 1993 and winning four of them. Four of the games (ArenaBowl III, ArenaBowl IV, ArenaBowl V and ArenaBowl VII) were played in Joe Louis Arena.

Joe Louis Arena was the site of the 2013 edition of the Skate America figure skating competition. In addition, Joe Louis Arena hosted the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, best known for the pre-competition attack on Nancy Kerrigan by associates of Tonya Harding.

It was announced on May 7, 2015, that the Horizon League Men's Basketball Tournament would be held in Detroit beginning in 2016 under a five-year deal; the 2016 and 2017 tournaments were held at Joe Louis Arena.^[18]

Joe Louis Arena was also a concert venue. Until the Palace of Auburn Hills was built in 1988, Joe Louis Arena was Michigan's largest indoor arena for concerts. The first concert to take place there occurred on February 17, 1980,^[19] in which Max Webster opened for the Canadian rock group Rush. To compensate for most of Joe Louis Arena's concert business being moved north following the opening of the Palace, the Red Wings began a tradition of playing a home game on New Year's Eve. Aside from lockouts cancelling part or all of the 1994–95, 2004–05, and 2012–13 seasons, the Red Wings left the New Year's Eve date open in years they were scheduled to participate in the NHL Winter Classic. For New Year's Eve 2012 and 2013, the Zac Brown Band held concerts at the Joe. The 2012 date was open due to the planned 2013 Winter Classic that was postponed by lockout until 2014.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joe Louis Arena.

• Official website
• Video review of Joe Louis Arena
• Red Wings Deal is a Catch 22 – Detroit Free Press Article