The Palace of Auburn Hills, often referred to simply as
The Palace, is a
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s and entertainment venue in
Auburn Hills, MichiganAuburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 19,837 at the 2000 census. The 2008 census estimate places the population at 20,931. The city was formed in 1983 from the now defunct Pontiac Township....
, a suburb of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, USA. Opened in 1988, it is the home of the
Detroit PistonsThe Detroit Pistons is a team in the National Basketball Association based in the Detroit metropolitan area. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills.-From Fort Wayne to Detroit:...
of the
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
. It was also the home of the
Detroit ShockThe Detroit Shock was a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Detroit, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006 and 2008 WNBA champions....
of the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
(1998-2009, now playing as the
Tulsa WNBA teamThe Tulsa WNBA team is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team was founded in 1998 as the now-defunct Detroit Shock. They were one of the league's first expansion franchises...
).
Detroit VipersThe Detroit Vipers were an International Hockey League team. The team was founded in 1994, and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills.-Beginning:...
of the IHL (1994–2001),
Detroit SafarirightThe Detroit Safari was a member of the Continental Indoor Soccer League that played at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Their owners, the Palace Sports Group were awarded a franchise on November 4, 1993. Their star player and unofficial coach was experienced indoor player Andy Chapman...
of the
CISLThe Continental Indoor Soccer League was an indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997.-History:When the Major Soccer League folded in the summer of 1992, two of its former teams joined a group of hockey and basketball arena owners led by Ron Weinstein who wanted to create a league to...
(1994–1997), and the
Detroit FuryThe Detroit Fury were an Arena Football League team. The team began play in 2001 and was based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, along with William Clay Ford, Jr., son of the owner of the National Football...
of the
AFLThe Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as an indoor American football by Jim Foster. It was played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster-paced and higher-scoring game...
(2001–2004). It has also hosted numerous concerts and other special events throughout its history.
Before The Palace opened, the Pistons had lacked a suitable home venue.
The Palace of Auburn Hills, often referred to simply as
The Palace, is a
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s and entertainment venue in
Auburn Hills, MichiganAuburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 19,837 at the 2000 census. The 2008 census estimate places the population at 20,931. The city was formed in 1983 from the now defunct Pontiac Township....
, a suburb of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, USA. Opened in 1988, it is the home of the
Detroit PistonsThe Detroit Pistons is a team in the National Basketball Association based in the Detroit metropolitan area. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills.-From Fort Wayne to Detroit:...
of the
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
. It was also the home of the
Detroit ShockThe Detroit Shock was a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Detroit, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006 and 2008 WNBA champions....
of the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
(1998-2009, now playing as the
Tulsa WNBA teamThe Tulsa WNBA team is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team was founded in 1998 as the now-defunct Detroit Shock. They were one of the league's first expansion franchises...
).
Detroit VipersThe Detroit Vipers were an International Hockey League team. The team was founded in 1994, and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills.-Beginning:...
of the IHL (1994–2001),
Detroit SafarirightThe Detroit Safari was a member of the Continental Indoor Soccer League that played at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Their owners, the Palace Sports Group were awarded a franchise on November 4, 1993. Their star player and unofficial coach was experienced indoor player Andy Chapman...
of the
CISLThe Continental Indoor Soccer League was an indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997.-History:When the Major Soccer League folded in the summer of 1992, two of its former teams joined a group of hockey and basketball arena owners led by Ron Weinstein who wanted to create a league to...
(1994–1997), and the
Detroit FuryThe Detroit Fury were an Arena Football League team. The team began play in 2001 and was based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, along with William Clay Ford, Jr., son of the owner of the National Football...
of the
AFLThe Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as an indoor American football by Jim Foster. It was played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster-paced and higher-scoring game...
(2001–2004). It has also hosted numerous concerts and other special events throughout its history.
History
Before The Palace opened, the Pistons had lacked a suitable home venue. From 1957 to 1978, the team competed in Detroit's
Olympia StadiumOlympia Stadium, better known as the Detroit Olympia and nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", stood at 5920 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan from 1927 until 1987. It seated close to 15,000....
and Cobo Arena, both considered undersized for NBA purposes. In 1978, owner
Bill DavidsonWilliam Morse "Bill" Davidson, J. D. was an American entrepreneur and professional sports owner and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame....
elected not to share the new
Joe Louis ArenaJoe Louis Arena, nicknamed The Joe and JLA is a hockey arena located at 600 Civic Center Drive in Detroit, Michigan. It is the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Completed in 1979 at a cost of $57 million, Joe Louis Arena is named after boxer and former heavyweight...
with the
Detroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings is a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL....
, and instead chose to relocate the team to the
Pontiac SilverdomeThe Pontiac Silverdome is a domed stadium located in the city of Pontiac, Michigan. It hosted the Detroit Lions of the NFL from 1975–2001, the Detroit Pistons of the NBA from 1978–1988, the Michigan Panthers of the USFL from 1983–1984, the college football Cherry Bowl in 1984 and 1985 and Motor...
, a venue constructed for
footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, where it remained for the next decade. While the Silverdome could accommodate massive crowds, it offered substandard sight lines for basketball viewing. A group led by Davidson bought vacant land in Auburn Hills from Joseph Shewach, and built The Palace there for the relatively low cost of $70 million, using entirely private funding. The Davidson family holds a controlling interest in the arena since its construction, first through Bill and currently Karen.
The arena opened in time for the Pistons' first NBA championship season, in 1988–1989. Since then, when one of The Palace's basketball occupants has won a championship, the number on its address has changed. Its current address is 6 Championship Drive, reflecting the Pistons' three NBA titles and the Detroit Shock's three WNBA titles (the Detroit Vipers' 1997 Turner Cup championship has not been officially recognized in the arena's address). The original address was 3777 Lapeer Road.
The first musical act to perform at The Palace was Sting, on August 13, 1988, followed by
David Lee RothDavid Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality, best known as the original and current lead singer of Van Halen. In addition to his work with Van Halen, Roth is a successful solo artist, having released several platinum and gold solo albums...
,
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band who, in the late 1960s, earned recognition for their psychedelic and space rock music, and in the 1970s, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. Pink Floyd's work is marked by philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album cover art,...
and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The Palace was also the site of an assassination attempt on
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands, helping to pioneer the genre...
guitarist
Jimmy PageJames Patrick Page OBE is an Englishcomposer and record producer.Page has been described as "unquestionably one of the all-time most influential, important, and versatile guitarists and songwriters in rock history". In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Page #9 in its list of the 100 Greatest...
while he was on tour with former band mate
Robert PlantRobert Anthony Plant CBE , is an English rock singer and songwriter, famous for his membership in the former rock band Led Zeppelin as the lead vocalist and lyricist, as well as for his successful solo career...
during the "No Quarter Tour". On March 31, 1995, Lance Alworth Cunningham, a 23 year old who thought that Led Zeppelin music contained "satanic messages", tried rushing the stage with a knife. The man waited until the song "Kashmir" started and then made his charge for the stage while waving the weapon. The man was tackled by patrons and security about 50 feet from the stage.
The CureThe Cure are an English alternative rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976 by Robert Smith, Lawrence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
recorded their live album
ShowShow is a live album by English alternative rock band The Cure, released in 1993 and recorded live over two nights at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan in 1992, during the successful Wish tour. Show was also released as a concert video.This live album was released along with...
at the arena across two nights on July 18 and 19, 1992. Also, KISS recorded their third live album here on November 27, 1992.
PhishPhish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, exploration of music across genres, and devoted fan base. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983, the band's four members performed together for over 20 years until an official breakup in...
played the arena on December 6, 1997. They also played there during their fall tours in 1995, 1996, & 1999.
The arena hosted
WCWWorld Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and his...
World War 3World War 3 was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling. The pay-per-view's title also was the name of its signature match, a three-ring, sixty-man battle royal which was their answer to the World Wrestling Federation's Royal Rumble. The event...
pay-per-viewPay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast of that event to their homes. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
on two occasions in 1997 and also in 1998 as well as
WWFWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is a publicly-traded, privately-controlled integrated media and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
's
SummerSlamSummerSlam was the sixth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It took place on August 30, 1993 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan....
in 1993. On August 26, 2001,
MadonnaMadonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance...
broadcast live on HBO her
Drowned World TourThe Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eight studio albums Music and Ray of Light . It was also her first world tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show in 1993. It went on to become one of the most successful...
. It hosted
TNATotal Nonstop Action Wrestling , a privately controlled integrated-media and sports entertainment company, deals primarily in professional wrestling. It uses television, the Internet, and live events, with additional major revenue sources from product licensing and direct product sales...
's
SlammiversarySlammiversary was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , which took place on June 21, 2009 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was the fifth event under the Slammiversary chronology and used to commemorate the seventh...
event on June 21, 2009.
The Palace was the home of two brawls, one between the NBA's Pacers and Pistons and the other between the WNBA's Shock and Sparks.
In 2008, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the arena, it was announced that The Palace would be raising banners to the ceiling for musical acts that have had multiple sold-out shows at venues owned by Palace Sports & Entertainment. Bon Jovi was the first to get a banner in February followed by Neil Diamond in July. In addition, these artists received banners outside the building on lightpoles along with other members of Palace Sports & Entertainment's most attended acts including Kid Rock, Bob Seger, The Dave Matthews Band, The Barenaked Ladies, Van Halen, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Tim McGraw and Jimmy Buffett.
Capacity
The Palace of Auburn Hills has the 2nd largest capacity in the NBA, after the
United CenterThe United Center is an indoor sports arena located in the Near West Side community area of Chicago. It is named after its corporate sponsor, United Airlines. The United Center is home to both the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League and the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball...
which has helped the Pistons to record the league's highest home attendance from 2002-2008.
The Palace's large
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, either in terms of the physical space available, or in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that...
(22,076 for
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
; up to 23,000 for end-stage concerts and 24,276 for center-stage concerts) and suburban location have also made it very popular for large concerts and, to a slightly lesser degree, major
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
matches. The arena's basketball capacity was increased from 21,454 to 22,076 in the summer of 2009.
Banners
The Palace of Auburn Hills has several different types of banners hanging from its rafters. These include all time great Pistons, both Piston and Shock team achievements as well as some musicians who have consistently sold out the venue.
Musicians:
- AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".AC/DC underwent several line-up...
- Madonna
Madonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance...
- Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter. Diamond is one of pop music's most enduring and successful singer-songwriters. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s...
- Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single, Candle in the Wind 1997, has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the...
& Billy JoelBilly Joel is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States, according to the RIAA....
- Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter with five Grammy Award nominations...
- Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
with Mark KnopflerMark Knopfler OBE is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer....
- Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to...
- Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 and...
- Weezer
Weezer is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1992. Initially, the band consisted of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Matt Sharp , and Jason Cropper . Cropper was later replaced by Brian Bell...
Retired Numbers:
- William Davidson
- Jack McCloskey
- 2 Chuck Daly
- 4 Joe Dumars
- 11 Isiah Thomas
- 15 Vinnie Johnson
- 16 Bob Lanier
- 21 Dave Bing
- 40 Bill Laimbeer
Team Accomplishments:
Detroit Pistons:
- 1988-89 Eastern Conference Champions
- 1988-89 NBA Champions
- 1989-90 Eastern Conference Champions
- 1989-90 NBA Champions
- 2001-02 Central Division Champions
- 2002-03 Central Division Champions
- 2003-04 Eastern Conference Champions
- 2003-04 NBA Champions
- 2004-05 Eastern Conference Champions
- 2004-05 Central Division Champions
- 2005-06 Central Division Champions
- 2006-07 Central Division Champions
- 2007-08 Central Division Champions
Detroit Shock:
- 2003 WNBA Champions
- 2006 WNBA Champions
- 2008 WNBA Champions
Luxury suites
The Palace was built with 180
luxury suitesLuxury box or luxury suite is the North American term for a special seating section in arenas, stadiums and other sports venues. In the United Kingdom and Australia the terms used are corporate box, executive box, sky box and private box. They are typically in the mid-section of the stadium,...
, considered an exorbitant number when it opened, but it has consistently managed to lease virtually all of them. In December 2005, the Palace added five underground luxury suites, each containing of space and renting for $450,000 per year. Eight more luxury suites, also located below arena level, were opened in February 2006. They range is size from 800 to and rent for $350,000 annually.
The architectural design of the Palace, including its multiple tiers of luxury suites, has been used as the basis for many other professional sports arenas in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
since its construction, including
Scotiabank PlaceScotiabank Place is a multi-purpose arena, located in Kanata, a district of Ottawa, Ontario. It is home to the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League, and also hosts the Men's basketball championship . Opened as The Palladium in January 1996, it was known as the Corel Centre from February...
in
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
, also designed by Rossetti Associates. One trend that the arena has not partaken in is that of selling its
naming rightsNaming rights are the right to name a piece of property, either tangible property or an event, usually granted in exchange for financial considerations. Institutions like schools, places of worship and hospitals have a tradition of granting donors the right to name facilities in exchange for...
to a sponsor; it is one of four NBA arenas that has not done so, and just one of eight basketball arenas owned by their respective NBA franchise.
Although The Palace is now one of the oldest arenas in the NBA, the Pistons have shown little interest in replacing it, as it already contains the amenities that most NBA teams have sought in new arenas. Additionally, The Palace installed a new High-Definition Jumbotron monitor and LED video monitors in the mid-2000s. It is widely considered to be the first of the modern-style NBA arenas, and its large number of luxury suites was a major reason for the building boom of new NBA arenas in the 1990s.
External links