On the day after Super Bowl 53: What city is the most irrelevant in American sports today?
It’s no contest – Detroit, Michigan.
Since the Lions lost to the Seahawks in the first round of
the NFL playoffs on January 1, 2017, none of the four major pro teams – the Lions,
Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings – have appeared in a post-season game. As of
today, February 4, 2019, that is a span of more than 49 months.
Since the Red Wings defeated the visiting Tampa Bay
Lightning in the first round of the NHL playoffs on April 17, 2016, no Detroit
team has won a post-season game.
Over the last two-plus seasons, Detroit teams have won an
aggregate of 325 games (Lions 15, Pistons 98, Red Wings 84, Tigers 128) and
lost 463 (Lions 17, Pistons 117, Red Wings 133, Tigers 196). It has been since
2013 since the Tigers won a post-season game, 2008 for the Pistons and 1991 for
the Lions; the championship drought is 2008 for the Red Wings, 2004 for the
Pistons, 1984 for the Tigers and 1957 for the Lions.
Two of the three current facilities used in Detroit has yet
to host a post-season game – Little Caesars Arena and Ford Field, although Ford
Field did host Super Bowl 40 between Pittsburgh and Seattle in 2006.
Add to all this competitive ineptitude is the apparent
unwillingness by Major League Soccer to award a franchise to Detroit. Despite financial
backing from Tom Gores (Pistons) and Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) and a
pledge to reconfigure Ford Field to make it association football-friendly, the
Motor City has been bypassed in MLS expansion plans by other communities, and
it doesn’t look as if Detroit will get a team unless a soccer-exclusive
facility is built. This is something that wouldn’t have been thought of a
generation or two ago, when Detroit was among the top 10 media markets in this
country, and no pro sports enterprise would even dream of not placing a team in
the Motor City.
Yet, we are still suckers for the pro sports marketers to
play off of. We will still watch the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the
NBA playoffs and the World Series. The MLS Cup is growing in popularity in this
state too. As long as we are watching these events without a sniff of any local
participation, why bother trying to field competitive teams in Detroit, or why try to
even place a team in Detroit?
If there ever is a time to wean oneself off of following pro
sports in Michigan, now is the time, before the siren’s song of a return to
relevancy is heard.
That’s a song that is still a long ways off around here.
Thanks!
