FROM THE IRONY DEPARTMENT . . .

Silverdome owners on roof collapse: Oh yeah, we meant to do that

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Neil deMause

Time to check in on the Pontiac Silverdome, onetime home of the Detroit Lions, and more recently sold for $583,000 to a guy who says he’ll maybe use it for horse racing and polo and who asked for a five-year freeze on property taxes so he can renovate the place. How’s he been taking care of the place in the meantime?


WXYZ-TV, which shot the above photo, reports that Silverdome officials say that “since they let the air out the roof has been tearing because of the wind and snow. They also say they expected tearing to happen.” The Detroit Free Press says the building’s owners plan on replacing the fabric roof with a fixed roof this summer anyway — one “with solar panels,” according to an earlier report in the Detroit News — but given the mammoth cost of building a new roof, especially on top of a structure that was never designed to hold a fixed roof, color me skeptical. If any Detroit-area journalists are reading this, could you maybe call these guys and ask the followup question: “Wait, are you serious?”