The Detroit Pistons Cannot Put Asses In The Seats Of Its $863 Million Brand New Arena

Detroit just built its lowly Pistons a $862.9 million stadium, funded largely with public funds, and named it after a shitty fast pizza joint. Little Caesars Arena is a “revolutionary” stadium with a centerhung scoreboard that measures at 5,100 square feet and features 16.5 million LED lights in and around it.

But there’s one problem:

They can’t fill it.

According to Piston Powered:

The season opener drew a near sellout at 20,491, but actual filled seats would have been closer to the three-quarter mark, according to a multitude of eyewitnesses on hand. Attendance at the Pistons’ second game of the season against the Philadelphia 76ers was even more remarkable with just 13,709 tickets sold, and there were significantly fewer people than that on hand.

Granted, the Pistons don’t have any stars (sorry Andre Drummond), and there may be a geographical lag that comes with moving the stadium from the northern suburbs to centric-Detoit, but certainly not a good look early on.

[h/t Deadspin]

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.