The Palace of Auburn Hills
The Palace of Auburn Hills is a sports venue in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan that is home to the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. Previously, the franchise had played its home games in the Pontiac Silverdome, a venue constructed for football. Its large seating capacity (22,076 for basketball; higher still for any event in which part of the arena floor can be used for seating) and suburban location have also made it very popular for large rock concerts and, to a slightly lesser degree, major boxing matches. The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, considered an exorbitant number when it opened in 1988, but it has successfully managed to lease virtually all of them. It has been used as the basis for the development of other "luxury" sports arenas elsewhere in North America, but the majority of these were built in downtown locations rather than suburban ones like the Palace's.