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Sports in Detroit

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Ford Field adjacent to Comerica Park.

Detroit, Michigan, is the home to six professional sports teams. It is also one of several cities in the United States to have teams from the four major North American sports.

All but two of the area's teams compete within the city of Detroit. There are three active major sports venues within the city: 41,070-seat Comerica Park (home of the baseball team Detroit Tigers), 65,000-seat Ford Field (home of the football team Detroit Lions), and 19,983-seat Joe Louis Arena (home of the ice hockey team Detroit Red Wings). Detroit is known for its avid hockey fans. Interest in the sport has given the city the moniker of "Hockeytown."

The area's other major venue is The Palace of Auburn Hills, in suburban Auburn Hills. This 22,076-seat arena is home to the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock of men's and women's professional basketball, respectively.

In college sports, the University of Detroit Mercy has a NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has both NCAA Division I and II programs. The NCAA football Motor City Bowl is held at Ford Field each December. In addition, the sports teams of the University of Michigan are located in Ann Arbor, within an hour's drive of much of the metropolitan area.

Detroit has bid to host the Summer Olympic Games more often than any other city which has not yet hosted, participating in International Olympic Committee elections for the 1944 (placing 3rd, behind bid winner London), 1952 (5th place), 1956 (4th place), 1960 (3rd place), 1964 (2nd place), 1968 (2nd place) and 1972 (4th place) Games. It is, as of 2007, considering a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

City of Champions

Comerica Park
Interior of Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit was given the name "City of Champions" in the 1930s, for a series of successes both in individual and in team sport. Gar Wood (a native Detroiter) won the Harmsworth Trophy for unlimited powerboat racing on the Detroit River in 1931. In the Next year, 1932, Eddie "the Midnight Express" Tolan, a black student from Detroit's Cass Technical High School, won the 100- and 200-meter races and two gold medals at the 1932 Olympics. Joe Louis won the heavyweight championship of the world in 1937. Detroit Lions won the National Football League championship in 1935. The Detroit Tigers won the American League pennant in 1934 and again in 1935, subsequently bagging the World Series in 1935, defeating the Chicago Cubs. The Detroit Red Wings won the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup in 1936 & 1937.[1][2]

Events

Looking towards Ford Field the two nights before Super Bowl XL.
Comerica Park 2007

Since 1904, the city has home to the American Power Boat Association Gold Cup unlimited hydroplane boat race, held annually on the Detroit River near Belle Isle.[3]. Detroit was the former home of a round of the Formula One World Championship, which held the race on the streets of downtown Detroit from 1982 until 1988, and then from 1989 (when the sanction moved from Formula One to IndyCars) at Belle Isle until its final run in 2001.[4]

The 2004 Ryder Cup was held at Oakland Hills Country Club, located in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Township.

Comerica Park hosted the 2005 MLB All-Star Game on July 12, 2005, and Ford Field hosted Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006. On December 13, 2003, the largest crowd in basketball history (78,129) packed Ford Field to watch the University of Kentucky defeat Michigan State University, 79-74.[5] Comerica Park hosted games 1 and 2 of the 2006 World Series.

Ford Field held WrestleMania 23 in Ford Field on April 1 2007. The Palace of Auburn Hills held NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament Finals on March 15-17 2007.

The annual gold cup polo tournament is held at Duns Scotus College (20000 W. Nine Mile Rd.) in suburb of Southfield, MI.

The Detroit Marathon is also organized annually in the city, usually held in October.

The city of Detroit is scheduled to host the following events:

Organizations

Professional

Club League Venue Established Championships
Detroit Lions NFL Football Ford Field 1930 4 (NFL), 0 (Super Bowl)
Detroit Pistons NBA Basketball The Palace of Auburn Hills 1941 3
Detroit Red Wings NHL Hockey Joe Louis Arena 1926 10
Detroit Shock WNBA Basketball The Palace of Auburn Hills 1998 2
Detroit Tigers MLB Baseball Comerica Park 1894 4
Detroit Panthers ABA Basketball Cobo Arena 2004 0
Detroit Ignition MISL Indoor Soccer Compuware Arena 2006 0

Racing

Club Sport League Venue Location
various Auto racing NASCAR, IRL, ARCA Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn
Detroit APBA Gold Cup Hydroplane racing APBA Detroit River Detroit

Collegiate

Club Sport League Venue Location
Oakland University Golden Grizzlies various NCAA (The Summit League) various Rochester
University of Detroit Mercy Titans various NCAA (Horizon League) various, including Calihan Hall Detroit
University of Michigan Wolverines various NCAA (Big Ten Conference, Central Collegiate Hockey Association) various, including Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor
Wayne State University Warriors various NCAA (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, College Hockey America) various Detroit

Hockeytown

Hockeytown is a nickname for the city of Detroit, which arose in 1996 thanks to a marketing campaign by the city's NHL franchise, the Detroit Red Wings. The nickname, over time, has gained national and international recognition, and has became an official nickname of the Joe Louis Arena.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=91&category=sports. Detroit News.
  2. ^ http://www.visitdetroit.com/visitorcenter/aboutdetroit/dates/. Visit Detroit
  3. ^ History. The Detroit APBA Gold Cup
  4. ^ Track History. CART.
  5. ^ History. FordField.com.

Further reading

  • Gavrilovich, Peter and Bill McGraw (2000). The Detroit Almanac. Detroit Free Press. ISBN 0-937247-34-0.
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