The Free Press has been chronicling the tales of Detroit’s “fallen stadiums” over the course of this week, and Matthew Auchinloss has posted a column about Joe Louis Arena’s history this morning:
Joe Louis Arena’s significance to Detroit sports history cannot be overstated, which is remarkable given how poorly it was received when it first opened in December 1979 . Featuring old, gray concrete with fluorescent lighting poorly installed, a lack of bathrooms and no place to sell merchandise, The Joe was not beloved when the team moved from iconic Olympia Stadium midway through the ’79-80 NHL season. Mike Ilitch, who’d bought the franchise in 1982 from the Norris family after 50 years of ownership, began earning his status as a beloved owner with his continuous upgrade work on the building. He mostly succeeded, but The Joe was never beloved for its construction.
It was iconic because of who played there. Not its namesake, legendary boxer Joe Louis – he never set foot in the building, having died in 1981. But there was Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. Tonya Harding in her infamous U.S. Figure Skating Nationals win (though the attack that eventual Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan actually occurred a few blocks over, at Cobo Arena). Isaiah Thomas’s 1984 Game 5 playoff performance, in which he scored 29 points after the half in an OT loss to the New York Knicks. Dozens of concerts and WWE events and youth and college hockey games and octopi on the ice, all in one gray building.
And four Stanley Cups. A building named after a champion and filled with champions.
Continued; the Joe was never loved for its looks, unless you liked the brutalist architecture of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and it never worked well in terms of amenities, from the troughs in the men’s restrooms to its steep concrete stairs and cramped confines…
But it was a beautiful building in its own blue-collar way, mostly because the “Dead Wings” became the majestic home of a team that won 4 Stanley Cups and had 6 Stanley Cup Final appearances over the course of 13 years.
Everybody squeezed into their runky seats, held their breath, and watched wonderful hockey take place over the course of the 90’s and 00’s, and in its own way, the on-ice product was enough to make up for the lack of creature comforts.
The Joe was the most beloved shit hole of any rink in America. If you did not almost die carrying your beer and pizza up to the upper decks you were not experiencing the Joe
The Joe was a sporting arena and no matter your seat or standing room only, you had great sightlines. LCA is for entertainment, the Joe was for hockey