Detroit Red Wings fans will be saying a slow goodbye to the arena their team called home for almost 40 years.
Details have been released concerning the upcoming demolition of Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Free Press reports that a methodical demolition of the arena will begin in the spring and be finished in 2020. There will be no implosion as sports fans in Detroit last saw with the Pontiac Silverdome, the former home of the Detroit Lions and Pistons.
Crews will begin dismantling the interior of Joe Louis Arena in the spring and move on to the exterior later in the summer.
A Detroit People Mover stop attached to the arena will remain, though the bridge connecting it to the arena property will come down.
Adamo Group has a $5.9 million contract with the city of Detroit, the owner of the building, to perform the demolition, according to the Free Press.
Detroit Building Authority manager Tyrone Clifton told the paper that the arena, which housed the Red Wings from 1979 to 2017, has been stripped clean with just about every item of value removed and auctioned off, including seats, billboards, photos and other memorabilia.
The arena was built on the riverfront as an incentive for the Red Wings to remain in Detroit after the neighbourhood surrounding their previous home, Olympia Stadium, declined. The city of Pontiac had offered to build the team a multi-purpose arena, but the city of Detroit offered the team a lower rent rate and operational control of the building and surrounding parking lots.
"The Joe", as it was called by fans and sports media, got a facelift after the Illitch family bought the team in 1982. While fans loved the atmosphere and the obstruction-free sightlines, the building was criticized for its cramped concourses, tricky location and steep seating.
The Red Wings played in six Stanley Cup Finals while there, winning four of them. The arena was also a temporary home for the Pistons and the Drive, a now-defunct arena football team. Joe Louis Arena also hosted college hockey and basketball, concerts, trade shows and the 1980 Republican National Convention.
The Red Wings moved out after the 2016-2017 season and now share Little Caesars Arena with the Pistons.