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April 23, 2008
Detroit puts price on Tiger Stadium's head
The Detroit Tigers left Tiger Stadium almost nine years ago, and it seems like the city has been about to tear it down ever since. Now, though, the day of reckoning has apparently been set: Detroit's Economic Development Corp., awarded a contract yesterday to tear down the historic ballpark, starting in May or June, to make way for a vacant lot.
The group pushing to preserve at least part of the stadium, meanwhile, has been given an ultimatum: Come up with $369,000 by June 1 - $300,000 to make up for the fee the demolition company will pay if it's allowed by then to knock down the whole building in one shot, the rest to cover six months of security and maintenance on the remaining fragment - and the city will consider saving the home-plate section. Otherwise, the whole building comes down.
"Right now, this deal costs the city no money. If we wait, we lose out on $300,000," EDC VP Wayne Guillebeaux told the Detroit News. "Do you think the city intends to lose out on $300,000?" Would that be the same city that collected $2 million in ticket taxes to pay the cost of demolishing the stadium and then gave it to the Tigers instead?
