Coming home from my first NHL draft and my third trip down to Columbus’ Nationwide Arena, and the recent articles in the Detroit newspapers about the Detroit Red Wings pending lease on Joe Louis Arena (the team must decide in August whether to renew or not renew the lease), made me realize that the Wings need to build a new arena.

Joe Louis is arguably one of the worst NHL arenas in the league, and as many Detroit people say, “The building was outdated the day they opened the doors.” The concourses are half the size they need to be and during the intermissions they are clogged up even worse because the bathroom facilities are so small, the line often stretches out the door 15 to 20 people long. The press box is just a long line of countertops and often broadcasters can be seen broadcasting not even in a normal booth.

The problem against building a new home is that the deal they have is so sweet, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to leave. The Red Wings lease “The Joe” for just $450,000 a year, less than half of what most teams pay in a year. Why should the owners want to leave given their great deal? A new arena lease would undoubtedly cost much more and the Red Wings ticket prices are already near the league’s top. It would be hard to raise prices for a fan base from a city whose unemployment rate is skyrocketing.

A bonus of building a new arena would be that it would most likely be right behind the Fox Theatre, one of the many things the Ilitch family owns in the area. That area has become somewhat of Ilitch town; he owns the Tigers right across the street from the Fox and the Hockeytown Café kitty corner from Comerica Park. With Ilitch owning land behind the Fox, it would be a smart move by him and would bring in even more of his assets closer together.

A new arena would help out the city of Detroit in two ways: first is the fact that it will bring in restaurants around the arena (with the current location of the Wings arena, there is no room for bars) and it would give room for Detroit to extend Cobo Hall, something the city has said needs to be done in order to keep the International Auto Show.

Although the city did a pretty poor job in placing the Tigers and Lions new stadiums (there right across the street from each other and on no sides of the Lions stadium can a bar be put in), if the Wings put the arena in a good location, it could help spur some bars and restaurants to come up, helping out Detroit’s struggling economy.

One of the major issues that will be brought up when discussing whether to renew or build will be how an arena will be financed. Although the Ilitch family has had such a good deal over the years, it will be doubtful they pay any more towards the arena than they have to.

The city is in a recession and asking a struggling city for a couple hundred million dollars for an entertainment building when Detroit is having a hard time financing the school districts, will be hard pressed. How the building is financed is probably the most important issue that will be discussed over the summer. As August rapidly approaches, it will be interesting to see what path the Red Wings and the city of Detroit take.