Pistons owner Tom Gores has submitted a formal bid to bring a WNBA team back to Detroit. Lions quarterback Jared Goff and former Pistons star Grant Hill are among the investors.
Gores said his bid, which was submitted Thursday, is an "unprecedented opportunity for the league to come full circle and effect a long-hoped-for Detroit homecoming."
The Detroit Shock played in the league from 1998 to 2009, winning three titles and at one point ranking No. 1 in attendance for three straight seasons. The franchise set a single-game attendance record of 22,076 fans at Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals on the way to its first championship.
It moved to Tulsa in 2010 before another relocation in 2016 to Dallas.
"This is an exciting opportunity to welcome the WNBA back to Detroit and bring additional investment and economic activity into the city," Gores said in a statement released Friday.
Headlined by Gores, the bidding group also features Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and her husband Steve, Goff and his wife Christen, Hill and his wife Tamia, former NBA star and Detroit native Chris Webber, and Denise Ilitch (daughter of Mike and Marian Ilitch).
"Detroit is a sports town that loves its teams deeply and consistently shows up with unwavering passion," said Gores. "At a critical moment in the growth and development of the WNBA, it supported the hometown team more than any other franchise in the league. We’re here to rekindle that legacy.”
The bid has the support of both Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, with Duggan saying that "a WNBA franchise in Detroit would bring a state-of-the-art practice facility and support the creation of a youth sports academy for Detroit's young people and their families.”
Gores is positioning the franchise as a "community asset" that includes a plan to construct a new dedicated WNBA practice facility and team headquarters.
The development will also include a publicly accessible sports center in a central location for Detroit residents that would support the formation of a youth development academy. The academy will address the lack of access and equity among youth sports facilities in Detroit.
The new team will play its games at Little Caesars Arena, bringing another 22-plus sporting events to the city each year.
“My vision is to continue developing community assets that create change and impact for families across this city,” said Gores. “Together, we will create a new model for how professional sports can drive youth development, health care and community impact not only on the court and in the arena, but also off the court and throughout the Detroit community.”