Sale of Silverdome Enjoined

In 1975, for a mere $55.7 million, the National FootballLeague’s Detroit Lions got a new home, the Silverdome, in Pontiac,Michigan (pictured).  In 2002, the team movedback to Detroit, and according to Time.com’s Detroit Blog, it now costs thecity of Pontiac $1.5 million/year to maintain the stadium, which no longergenerates significant revenues.   So, the city put the stadium up forsale, and according to the Detroit Free Presswebsite, the high bidder was an unnamed Toronto company, with a bid of $583,000. 

Last week, H. Wallace Parker, owner of Silver StallionDevelopment filed a breach of contract suit and sought an injunction of thesale.  According to the Wall Street Journal blog, a judgegranted the injunction on Wednesday. Silver Stallion alleges that it was negotiating the terms of a contractto purchase the Silverdome and that the city breached its contractualobligations.  In addition, Silver Stallionalleges racial bias in the city’s decision to put the stadium up for auctionrather than permit its development by a minority-owned company.

[Jeremy Telman]