Detroit Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch first showed his love for sports when he was cranking up his Little 
Caesars Pizza chain of restaurants back in the 70’s and he gave back to Detroit by sponsoring elite hockey teams from the Mite to the Junior divisions.
As an onslaught of investors helped him expand his pizza-flipping business, Little Caesars evolved to a successful enough chain for the mogul to fork over about $8 million to purchase the Red Wings in the 1980’s. After adding the Tigers, historic Fox Theatre and the Motor City casino to his collection, Ilitch now is hot on purchasing the Detroit Pistons which would make him a Trifecta owner of pro sports teams.
Detroiters are holding their breath as they await the outcome of this Pistons’ sale. Ilitch actually jumped on board when talk of the possibility of moving the team out of Detroit began to circulate through the sports gossip world.
In a recent interview, Ilitch showed his passion for his hometown and why he is the right guy to own the team.
“When I read in the paper there was the chance that this great sports town could lose one of its professional sports franchises, I just didn’t see how we could let that happen. The Pistons, just like the Red Wings, Tigers and the Lions, have a rich and storied tradition in this community.”
Ilitch was born in the Detroit area and has been very instrumental in rebuilding the downtown area over the past few decades. With ex-Pistons star Dave Bing currently sitting in the Mayor’s seat in Motown, Ilitch buying the team feels as sure as a LeBron James slam-dunk.
Ilitch is said to have presented a bid to Karen Davidson, current owner of the team, and there is no formal deadline for that bid to be accepted or rejected. Davidson did however comment how she expects the deal to be done before this upcoming NBA season meaning the docs would be signed and a deal approved before October.
The NBA does have a multifarious procedure for selling a team. After the current owner takes bids, the prospective owners get grilled by the league’s Board of Governors to confirm the buyer has the funds and no skeletons in his closet.
We have to assume Ilitch is clean since in today’s day and age of Internet scandals we certainly would have heard and seen any gossip news on him by now. So it would just be a matter of the pizza mogul’s bid being acceptable to Davidson and him showing her the money.
After he would pass that hurdle, the 30 NBA owners would then vote on the sale.
If Ilitch succeeds in obtaining the team, it would be the second time an owner has pulled that off. The other happened in Atlanta when Ted Turner owned the Atlanta Braves, NBA Hawks and NHL Thrashers.
Final note, Forbes estimates the Pistons’ worth as the 4th highest in the NBA at $479 million.
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