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Report: Pistons in final stages of planning downtown move

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters / Action Images

The Detroit Pistons may actually play again within the confines of the Motor City as soon as 2018.

According to a report from Crain's Detroit Business, the team is said to be in the final stages of talks to relocate to the under-construction Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, where the Detroit Red Wings will play beginning next season.

Oakland County rejected an offer this summer to buy the Palace of Auburn Hills, the home of the Pistons for the last 28 years, for $384 million in a sale-lease back deal. County Executive L. Brooks Patterson told Crain's on Monday that his administration determined it would have been a bad financial move to buy the home of the Pistons, considering a move is in the works.

Vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment Arn Tellem told Patterson in a recent meeting that the Pistons "are in the final stages of negotiation" for a downtown move. Tellem was hired last year by Pistons and Palace owner Tom Gores, and talks about relocating the team have been at the forefront of his efforts.

The Pistons are also reportedly in serious discussions to move forward with a 60,000-square-foot practice facility, just north of Little Caesars Arena.

Gores' private equity firm researched the best value for the Palace post-Pistons, and a likely scenario is that the building would be demolished and sold for commercial office development.

"The county turned (the deal) down because it was the fiscally responsible thing to do on behalf of taxpayers," said Bill Mullan, media and communications officer for Patterson, in an email. "The county did not want to risk having another (Pontiac) Silverdome. The county also thinks the property is better in the hands of Gores, his team, and their vision for the future."

As Mullan's concern goes, after the opening of Ford Field and the departure of the NFL's Lions in 2002, the Pontiac Silverdome (which also played home to the Pistons for a 10-year-stint) was left without a permanent tenant.

It closed in 2006, though multiple attempts were made to host events and look for new tenants. The roof was finally deflated in 2013 and contents were sold in 2014. The last attempt to sell the stadium asked just $30,000 before it was slated to be demolished this year.

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