The Palace of Auburn Hills

The Palace of Auburn Hills (a.k.a. The Palace) is a large sports and entertainment venue in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb located 33 miles north of downtown Detroit. Since its completion in 1988, it has been the home of the Detroit Pistons of the NBA; since 1998 it has also hosted the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. It was also the home of the now-defunct Detroit Vipers of the IHL (1994 – 2001), Detroit Safari of the CISL (1994 – 1997), and the Detroit Fury of the AFL (2001 – 2004). It has also hosted numerous concerts and other special events throughout its history.

Seating Capacity: 22,076
Opened: 1988
Owner: William Davidson (majority owner)
Operator: Palace Sports and Entertainment
Construction cost: $70 million

Before the Palace opened, the Pistons had lacked a suitable home venue. From 1957 to 1978, the team competed in Detroit’s Olympia Stadium and Cobo Arena, both considered undersized for NBA purposes. In 1978, owner Bill Davidson elected not to share the new Joe Louis Arena with the Detroit Red Wings, and instead chose to relocate the team to the Pontiac Silverdome, a venue constructed for football, 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 built the Palace for the relatively low cost of $70 million, using entirely private funding.

The Palace’s large seating capacity (22,076 for basketball; 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 boxing matches. The Palace was built with 180 luxury suites, 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 450 square feet and renting for $450,000 per year. Eight more luxury suites, located below arena level, were opened in February 2006. They range from 800-1,200 square feet and rent for $350,000 annually.

The Palace 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.

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The Palace of Auburn Hills website
The Palace of Auburn Hills wikipedia entry
Detroit Pistons website
Pistons News Fansite
Pistons Forum Fansite
Detroit Shock website

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