This is an opinion piece by MLive.com columnist David Mayo.
It was the dispiriting 1980s in Detroit, when the city’s roads led one way, out. Investment in the city deteriorated. The population dwindled and the tax base shriveled. Buildings were crumbling.
That’s when Mike Ilitch came back.
The Detroit native bought and revamped Fox Theatre, then moved his burgeoning Little Caesars empire from Farmington Hills into the building. Detroit wasn’t the place to be, it was the place to be from. It was 1988 and no one was doing what Ilitch, who then owned the Detroit Red Wings, and soon would turn them into the National Hockey League’s dominant force, was doing.
Ilitch moving his business holdings into downtown Detroit was held up for its symbolism, though it was more than just symbolic.
Ilitch was of Detroit, and ultimately wanted to be in Detroit.
The city and the businessman forged a mutually beneficial relationship and Ilitch got a lot of tax incentives along the way, but the role he played in revitalizing downtown Detroit, creating one of the most vibrant sports and entertainment sectors of any city in the nation, and becoming one of the great team owners in sports history, were undeniable.
Ilitch, the owner of the Red Wings and Detroit Tigers, who took over as custodian of those franchises when they were rudderless and drawing little fan interest and turned both into powerhouses with new home facilities, died Friday at 87.
The man of working-class roots who opened a pizza shop in 1959 in Garden City, and grew it into the international Little Caesars chain, made a tremendous impact on the restaurant industry and his hometown, where he stayed and invested.
Pizza mogul Mike Ilitch dead at 87
As an owner, Ilitch was beloved like none other in Detroit history, not for his boisterousness or candor — he seldom said much about his clubs — but because he delivered. He restored luster to two franchises and oversaw construction of new playing facilities for both.
Ilitch bought the Red Wings in 1982, when they were non-contenders and fans largely had abandoned them. He bought the Tigers in 1992, when the franchise was a wreck, playing in a cherished dungeon where free agents dared not roam, with a minor-league system adjudged the worst in baseball.
The new owner endured years of losing with both franchises. But he understood the core tenet of sports franchise ownership: The primary job is to monitor the front office and demand some level of fiscal responsibility, then be willing to scrap that and write a big check when opportunity strikes, which Ilitch did when his financial extravagance could position the Red Wings and Tigers to win.
The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup under Ilitch in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008, when his ownership commitment to winning was forged.
He never saw the Tigers win it all on his watch, which was the former minor-league shortstop’s dream, though he did seem them play in the World Series twice.
He never saw the final product of what will become Little Caesars Arena, the newest downtown jewel, with financing he structured.
His vision lives on in all of it, for decades to come.
Ilitch was much closer to the everyman than the modern sports owner who pursues the spotlight. He did not like interviews and would not be found in the clubhouse during open media periods. He occasionally would surprise beat writers with a round-table appearance, so that everyone had access to the same information simultaneously, but even those became much less common in recent years.
Ilitch always had passion for sports
The fates of the Tigers and Red Wings will be determined in the weeks ahead. Ilitch’s wife, Marian, is owner of MotorCity Casino, and Major League Baseball expressly prohibits any team owner or official from holding ownership or operating stake in a casino. Two days before Ilitch’s death, commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB is open to reexamining its hardline stance against gambling, but major policy change isn’t coming before the Tigers’ ownership transition must be resolved.
But for now, Detroit mourns the loss of an icon.
The Red Wings and Tigers are staples of Detroit and Ilitch offered them a steady hand in ownership, for 35 years and 25 years, respectively.
He wanted to be a Tiger, turning two on the infield, but ended up a mogul pitching “Pizza! Pizza!” and the two-for-one special that proved a concoction of dough, sauce and cheese didn’t have to break a family budget.
Ilitch reinvested in the city where he grew up, where he attended Cooley High School and starred on the sports teams before toughening up four years in the Marine Corps. His first pizza parlor was on the city’s west side. Ilitch’s riches were created of his own sweat-equity willingess to work in the flour dust alongside his employees. He operated his business soundly and it grew locally first, then regionally, then nationally, then internationally.
He poured his efforts and energy right back into his home base, right back into the place from which he came.
Ilitch was of Detroit. He let the world know it, even when that wasn’t in vogue. The city benefited from his presence and he built champions in the place he championed. In the end, everybody won.
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