DETROIT PISTONS TICKETS

Detroit Pistons Tickets 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. Palace Trivia *The Palace of Auburn Hills is currently the largest arena in the NBA. This has helped the Detroit Pistons to achieve the highest fan attendance in the league since 2002. The Palace is one of six arenas in the NBA that doesn\'t have have a naming rights deal. Pistons owner William Davidson holds a controlling interest in the arena. The Palace was the site of the Pacers-Pistons brawl in which a massive brawl broke out between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers on November 19, 2004 . The franchise went through a lengthy transitional period as its key players either retired or left. Under the leadership of Dumars, who re-emerged as the team president, the Pistons have rebuilt their team to include rising stars Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Richard \"Rip\" Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace. Coached by Hall of Fame inductee Larry Brown, the Pistons have returned to prominence, winning the 2004 NBA Championship. An inspired Detroit squad opened up a 23-point lead after three quarters and poured it on in the final stanza en route to a 100-87 Finals-clinching win over the Lakers in Game 5 on Tuesday. Richard Hamilton fired in a team-leading 21 points and Ben Wallace hauled in 22 rebounds to go with 18 points. The win marked the third championship for Detroit, the first since the 1989-90 season. However, on November 19, 2004, the Detroit Pistons were involved in a massive brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills during a losing home game against the Indiana Pacers. After fouling Pistons\' Ben Wallace, Pacer Ron Artest was hit by a cup while lying down on the judges\' table. This caused Artest to leap into the stands, injuring some fans. Other Pacers such as Jermaine O\'Neal fought with fans who had somehow been able to step onto the court. As the entire Pacers team and officials exited the arena, they were pelted by food and drinks from the Palace spectators. NBA commissioner David Stern stated that the brawl was \"shocking, repulsive and inexcusable\". A month later, five Pacers and seven fans were charged after being involved in the \"basketbrawl\".