Detroit Tigers Once Almost Left Tiger Stadium To Play In A Dome Stadium

When you think of the tigers you have to appreciate that Comerica Park is a beautiful place to play baseball, but for those of us who remember the dingy grounds at Tiger Stadium, we appreciate the old stadium for its rugged beauty. But I recently came across an article clipping that suggested at one time the Detroit Tigers almost left the sacred ballfield to play in a domed stadium in Detroit. That means we may have never seen them win their last championship in 1984.

The clip is from a magazine that shared that in the 70's the Tigers were on pace to move into the stadium which was near the riverfront:

Get our free mobile app

What Never Was

If plans materialize as scheduled, the Tigers will be playing in a new home in 1975- a domed stadium on the Detroit riverfront west of Cobo Arena. The Owner John E. Fetzer took the Tigers on the first big step toward that possibility in January when he signed a 40 year lease on the domed structure to be built by the Wayne County Stadium Authority.

So What Happened?

From what I can gather, the plans fell through and it never took place. Some people thought it ended up becoming Joe Louis Arena, but the projected sight seems a little closer to the riverfront than the old Joe was. As on commenter stated, there's nothing like seeing a baseball game in the ballpark:

This reminds me of the former Seattle Kingdome. I saw a baseball game there once; it was like watching a game on tv in someone’s living room. There was no sense of being at an actual game in a stadium.