DETROIT PISTONS AND CITY OF DETROIT COMPLETE PHASE II OF BASKETBALL COURT REFURBISHMENTS

17 Newly Renovated and Refurbished Courts Ready For Use In City Parks

Six-Year, $2.5 Million Dollar Investment To Renovate and Refurbish 60 Basketball Courts In Partnership With The City Of Detroit’s Parks and Recreation Department Is Part Of The Community Benefits Agreement With The City Of Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. – October 17, 2019 – Tom Gores and the Detroit Pistons, in partnership with the City of Detroit Parks and Recreation Department, announced today that 17 new basketball courts have been refurbished in parks throughout the city. The courts represent phase II of a $2.5 million dollar investment by the Pistons to renovate and refurbish 60 basketball courts over a six-year period, part of a community benefits plan created with the City of Detroit in connection with the Pistons’ move downtown.

Completion of the phase II courts comes a week after Mr. Gores and the Pistons opened the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center, a $90 million state-of-the-art training center and corporate headquarters in Midtown. Designed as a community hub, the new 185,000 square-foot facility is the largest of its kind in the NBA and anchors a multi-use development that is attracting additional investment to the area.

“Our move downtown has been a huge win for our franchise and for the community,” said Mr. Gores. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and the way the city continues coming together. At the same time, we are still just getting started. Efforts like the parks program are further extending our reach and will allow us to make an even bigger impact.”

Court refurbishments in Phase II included single basketball courts located at Optimist-Stout Park, Dequindre-Grixdale Park, Keller Park, Adam Butzel Park, Palmer Park, Tolan Playfield and Piwok Park.  Double basketball court refurbishments were made at Van Antwerp Park and O’Hair Park while six courts were refurbished at Lasky Park.

By the end of 2019, 23 courts will have been refurbished at 14 parks throughout the city.  The remaining 37 courts will be completed over the final four years according to the Parks’ Department’s master plan.

Basketball court refurbishments at each location include needed repairs to court surfaces and up-to-date rims, stantions and basketball infrastructure.  Additionally, each court will be repainted with proper basketball court markings and beautified to increase the aesthetic value of park.  As part of the Pistons’ agreement, the City of Detroit will oversee maintenance for the completed courts. 

Basketball For All – Six-Week ‘Pistons Neighbors Program’ Successfully Launched This Summer

In an effort to program and utilize completed court refurbishment projects around the neighborhoods they serve, the Detroit Pistons completed their first six-week “Pistons Neighbors Program” at Rouge Park North and Bennett Park in August. 

During a six-week period beginning July 18 through August 23, the Detroit Pistons provided an hour of programming in each park geared towards youngsters and adults.  Activities included Pistons Academy youth basketball clinics, youth activities in partnership with Playworks and adult yoga in partnership with Yoganic Flow.  All programming was free and available to everyone within each neighborhood. 

“Renovating courts is not where our commitment ends, but it’s just the beginning,” said Detroit Pistons Vice Chairman Arn Tellem.  “As part of our ‘Basketball For All’ initiative, we successfully launched the ‘Pistons Neighbors Program’ to engage the neighborhoods and activate our newly renovated courts during the summer months.  We look to extend this program to additional parks next summer by deploying our Pistons Academy program as a mechanism for teaching basketball skills and introducing additional programming such as adult yoga and youth activities that promote health and fitness, education and equality.”

The Pistons’ “Basketball For All” community initiative launched during the summer of 2018 and runs concurrently with the organization’s six-year court refurbishment project.  Elements of the program include providing basketballs to Detroit youth, encouraging participation and usage of refurbished courts and teaching the benefits of basketball.  Over 10,000 basketballs were distributed last year as part of the first year of activation. 

Support for the court refurbishment program builds on significant philanthropic investments Mr. Gores and the Detroit Pistons Foundation have already made in Detroit through partnerships with organizations like Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, the Detroit Police Athletic League, the S.A.Y. Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, City Year Detroit, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Sphinx Program, Dave Bing’s BINGO Mentoring Program, the Jalen Rose Youth Leadership Academy and Forgotten Harvest.  For more information on the Basketball For All program – visit www.pistons.com/basketballforall.

Providing Community Benefits

Mayor Duggan views the completion of phase II as an important milestone in continued fulfillment of the community benefits agreement between the Detroit Pistons and the City of Detroit and an opportunity to increase basketball participation and promote further utilization of city parks.

“When the Pistons moved back to Detroit, we knew it was going to have a great positive impact on our City, but we also wanted to make sure the benefits were felt by the entire city, not just downtown,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Today, kids can go out to their neighborhood park and play a pick-up basketball game on brand new courts, made possible by the Pistons. We’re going to keep going throughout the city, renovating more courts in more parks so that everyone has that opportunity. This is the kind of investment that the youth of Detroit deserve.”

The community benefits agreement included a 10-point plan that creates jobs and brings millions of dollars of investment into Detroit neighborhoods.

Under the plan approved by the project’s Neighborhood Advisory Council, the Pistons organization agreed to:

  • Invest $2,500,000 over six years in the construction, renovation and refurbishment of more than 60 basketball courts in parks throughout the City of Detroit in partnership with the City of Detroit’s Recreation department.
  • Compliance with Detroit’s Executive Order 2016-1 on hiring residents and funding workforce training.
  • Use commercially reasonable efforts to maximize post-construction employment opportunities with PS&E for City Residents.
  • Support workforce development initiatives for City Residents by donating $100,000 to Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation.
  • Partner with the Mayor’s Office to provide mentorship opportunities for young City Residents.
  • Participate in the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent summer jobs program.
  • Host free youth basketball camps, clinics, and other events for City Residents to promote youth basketball and youth enrichment programs in the City.
  • Provide 20,000 free tickets per regular season to Detroit youth and residents to attend NBA basketball games, in support of and in connection with community educational programs and initiatives.