The Palace at Auburn Hills – The End of an Era
On July 11th 2020 the final columns and roof of The Palace at Auburn Hills were collapsed with over 800 pounds of explosives. The demolition was broadcast on live on television and Facebook by local news outlets. Onlookers cheered as the structure collapsed in a cloud of dust. That dust cloud signaled the true end of an era. The moment was bittersweet.
The Palace at Auburn Hills was the home of several of Detroit’s professional sports teams but chief among those was the Detroit Pistons. They called the Palace home from 1988 until 2017 when they, and several other teams, moved to The Little Caesars Arena in midtown Detroit. In the nearly three decades that The Palace at Auburn Hills was in use, it saw history made several times.
More About The Palace at Auburn Hills
Before I get into some of those historical moments, I want to talk a little about what made the palace so special. For starters, no public funding was used to build the Palace; then-owner of the Pistons, Bill Davidson and two contractors privately financed the $90 million project. That’s closer to $200 million in today’s money. When it closed it was one of only two stadiums to not have its naming rights sold to a corporate entity; the other venue is Madison Square Garden.
The Palace at Auburn Hills was ahead of its time. In fact, it spurred the building of several comparable venues over the next decade. The luxury suites, club seating, and other amenities helped to keep the Palace and the teams who called it home profitable until the relocation to Detroit.
More than Just Basketball
The Palace at Auburn Hills was home to more than just NBA and WNBA teams. In fact, the venue housed several Detroit-based sports teams; from basketball to arena football to soccer, The Palace at Auburn Hills housed all the sports you could ever want to see. It was also a great venue for concerts and was host to many of the biggest names in entertainment.
It’s first year of operation saw Sting and Michael Jackson playing sold out shows. Janet Jackson made The Palace at Auburn Hills a stop on two of her tours. Other notable acts who stepped on the stage at the Palace were Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and The Cure. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant played The Palace as part of their No Quarter Tour in 1995.
A History of Violence
The Palace at Auburn Hills might have been a game-changing arena but it was not without its wild nights. From assassination attempts to history-making brawls, The Palace saw it all.
No Quarter Assassination Attempt
On the night of March 31, 1995 23-year-old Lance Alworth Cunningham attended Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s No Quarter Tour date at The Palace at Auburn Hills. Cunningham had bigger plans than watching the former members of Led Zeppelin perform, though. Believing that their former band’s music contained encoded Satanic messages, Cunningham planned to murder Jimmy Page with a knife he had smuggled into the show.
Cunningham’s plan was a complete and utter failure. He was stopped and subdued by venue security and fans. According to Auburn Hills police, he sustained minor cuts and bruises before being removed from the venue. He was approximately fifty feet from the stage when he was stopped. A completely oblivious Page continued to play Kashmir as Cunningham was ejected and arrested.
The WNBA Brawl
On the night of July 21, 2008 the Detroit Shock were hosting the Los Angeles Sparks at The Palace at Auburn Hills. In the final moments of the game the WNBA saw what might be its first on-court brawl.
A brawl was narrowly avoided when Sparks’ forward Candace Parker was fouled by Shock’s forward Cheryl Ford. Parker went after Ford but Lisa Leslie stepped in before things got out of hand. The game continued for a couple plays before things boiled over and the violence began. The ensuing brawl resulted in several suspensions as well as a season-ending ACL injury for Cheryl Ford, who was taken off the court in a wheelchair.
Malice at the Palace
The Malice at the Palace was a massive brawl that took places at a Pacers-Pistons game on November 19, 2004. It is fitting that the brawl that changed security protocols for the NBA happened at the arena that changed the standard for future venues.
There were just 45 seconds of play left on the clock. Detroit trailed by 15. Piston’s center Ben Wallace went in for a layup but was fouled from behind by Pacers’ small forward Ron Artest. Wallace retaliated by shoving Artest. The benches on both sides emptied and all hell broke loose. After a few seconds of chaos Artest laid on the scorers’ table to calm down and was hit by a cup full of liquid from the stands. He rushed into the audience and the brawl that ensued between fans and athletes would go down in history.
The Malice at the Palace resulted in a combined suspension of 146 games. Several athletes and fans were given criminal charges and some fans were banned for life from The Palace at Auburn Hills. Afterward, the league tightened security to prevent another incident like The Malice at the Palace.
A New Chapter
Time passes, things change, and even the greatest venues meet their end. The ground where the Palace stood will be developed into an office complex. The teams who once called it home will move to a corporate-named arena in Detroit. No matter what the land is used for, those with the right kind of eyes will always be able to see the place where one of the most important arenas of the 20th century once stood.