How would Mike Ilitch finance a purchase of the Detroit Pistons?

Here's what I wrote on that subject in June, after I learned that Atlas Oil owner Sam Simon, an Ilitch friend and diehard Pistons fan, might be an investor with the Ilitches on a deal to buy the team:

If the Ilitches want to buy the Pistons and Palace Sports, and eventually a new downtown arena, it's going to take creative financing because they're looking at a cost approaching $1 billion.

The Pistons are valued at $479 million by Forbes.com, and a new arena is expected to cost about $400 million.

Public financing appears to be a political long shot in the current economy, and private lenders are going to want to see evidence of a money-generating plan in place.

“It's a challenge to carry three major league sports franchises even in a thriving market,” said Jan Katzoff, executive vice president for sports and entertainment for the Radiate Group in San Francisco. “But from (the Ilitches) past track record, they could do it. They're probably looking at several efficiencies and economies of scale.”

That probably would include eliminating duplicate services between the current Ilitch holdings and those of PS&E. It also likely will include co-investors and some level of public financing.

The joint arena should also ease lender worry. Having the Red Wings and Pistons in a joint arena takes the burden off cash flow because the building has two anchor tenants, Katzoff said.

“That's a challenge for a lot of buildings,” he said.

Having more than 100 nights filled at the building with preseason, regular season and playoff games for the two teams will please the banks.

While no one has spoken in public about how an arena would be financed, it is known the Ilitches have privately talked to the city and county about it.

Neither government will talk about it.

Sports financing has become more restrictive in recent years.

Almost all of the members of the original lending group that financed the $300 million Comerica Park for the Ilitches in 1999 are now parts of other banks or have stopped sports lending altogether.

The original $145 million construction loan was financed by a bank syndicate led by Japan's Sumitomo Bank Ltd., which now is Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.

Two attempts by the Tigers to refinance the stadium's debt failed before the team successfully borrowed $140 million from another consortium of lenders in 2005.

One of the original lenders, Paris-based Societe Generale, is still around, but it shuttered its U.S. sports-lending division after reporting $7.1 billion lost from unauthorized trades two years ago.

The funding

Mike Ilitch is worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes. The bulk of that comes from the Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. pizza chain he and wife Marian launched in 1959.

For an April 2009 Crain's story about the pizza chain's 50th anniversary, Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Chicago-based research firm Technomic Inc., puts Little Caesar's systemwide sales at about $1.055 billion and estimates its restaurant count at 11,000.

Little Caesar President Dave Scrivano, without giving specifics, said that estimate is low. The company doesn't release financial data.

The family has other sources of income, such as concerts and events via their Olympia Entertainment Inc. business, a food distribution and restaurant equipment service and three movie theaters.

MotorCity Casino, owned by Marian Ilitch's Detroit Entertainment LLC since 2005, ended 2009 with $445 million in total adjusted revenue.

There's one other major revenue stream: If the Ilitches end up executing a deal, they also will become the sole beneficiary of a 10-year cable broadcast rights deal worth a collective $1 billion that the Pistons, Wings and Tigers signed with Southfield-based Fox Sports Detroit in 2008.

The teams themselves generate revenue — but plenty of costs, too.

The Detroit Tigers' $188 million in revenue ranks 14th among Major League Baseball's 30 teams, according to Forbes.com, which estimates the franchise is worth $375 million. That's 22nd in baseball.

Forbes also says the Tigers had a $29.5 million operating income loss for last season, the worst in the majors. It defines operating income as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and the estimates were published in April.

Mike Ilitch freely spends on the Tigers player payroll far above what would be typical for the market. This season, Detroit's salaries total $123 million.

The Red Wings ranked fourth in the 30-team NHL across the board in franchise value ($337 million), revenue ($130 million) and operating income ($27.4 million).

Forbes ranks the Pistons as the 30-team NBA's fourth most-valuable franchise at $479 million and third in revenue at $171 million. It's also third in operating income at $47 million.

It's curious to me that Mike Ilitch would issue a statement on their interest in buying the Pistons so early in the process. The Palace Sports folks I talked to this morning were not aware an announcement was coming.

Or is it early? Court records from a lawsuit involving Palace Sports personnel who jumped ship to the Ilitch organization indicate that Tom Wilson, the ex-PS&E boss, approached Pistons owner Karen Davidson earlier this year about a deal. She said not too long ago that a deal was near. Is it this one?

The Pistons aren't talking. Is today's statement designed to apply some pressure? Or were the Ilitches figuring that the news was going to leak anyway, so they're simply trying to get in front of it and manage the story on their terms?

In their official statement, the Ilitches say they're worried about the Pistons leaving town. Las Vegas and Pittsburgh are the two cities mentioned most in rumors. Thus far, there's been little more than speculation and zero substance to any Pistons relocation.

That said, the possibility of the Pistons moving has some fans worried. Mike Ilitch would certainly would win plenty of local good will by ensuring the team stays in town.

Interestingly, I noticed last week an Ilitch Charities billboard pop up along I-75 downtown. Are the Ilitches waging a hearts and minds campaign? Food for thought.

Tom Wilson said earlier this year that a half-dozen people or groups had expressed interest in the Pistons. We know the Ilitches are one. Rochester-based sports marketer and investor Andy Appleby, who led a consortium that bought an English pro soccer team in 2008, previously confirmed his group was interested. He declined comment today. Nothing has been said about other buyers.

If Ilitch ends up buying the Pistons, he'll be the only majority owner of three U.S. major league franchises (link).

Some back-patting: Crain's first reported that the Ilitches were serious about buying the Pistons on June 10 (link) and June 27 (link).

This is the full text statement issued today by the Ilitches:

"Marian and I grew up here, we raised our family here and we built our businesses here. Detroit is our home. When I read in the paper there was the chance that this great sports town could lose one of its professional sports franchises, I just didn't see how we could let that happen. The Pistons, just like the Red Wings, Tigers and the Lions, have a rich and storied tradition in this community and they've brought pride to fans and our community. You all know I love sports - all sports, from amateur sports to the various pro sports we've had the privilege to be involved with, and like a lot of others I'm sure, I really want to see the Pistons remain the Detroit Pistons.

"We talked about it internally and when you take our 33 years of experience in professional sports, our commitment to this community, our passion for winning and pursuing championships, and you couple that with the opportunity to have a local, engaged owner for the Pistons, we decided to take a run at it. We believe we could bring a lot to the table that could be tremendously positive for the Pistons franchise, the NBA, and the fans of this community. So, today, we formally notified the Detroit Pistons that we have interest in purchasing the team. This is a required first-step and we look forward to the opportunity to move forward in the process."

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano also issued a statement today: “It was a great pleasure working with the Ilitches on the Comerica Park project. The county is committed to working with the Ilitch organization and the city of Detroit to build a new arena downtown. The Ilitch family has shown a passion and commitment to Detroit, Wayne County, as well as the Red Wings and Tigers.  We look forward to working with them in the future.”

We needed a convertible. It’s the only proper vehicle for this kind of work, but none was available on such short notice. So we soldiered on in a Ford Taurus.

The mission was simple: Travel the entire length of Woodward Avenue, from downtown Pontiac to the heart of Detroit, checking everything out along the way. Why? Because people dream of a light rail line along Woodward's 27 miles, and some are putting up millions to make some portion of it happen. And now the feds are serious about stepping up with Big Money, at least for the portion between Hart Plaza and Eight Mile Road. This thing could become a reality and may change the face of the region forever.

Critics say it’s a wasteful $500 million luxury and that there’s no demand for it. There’s also an outcry that the short line now being proposed will be a disaster because it doesn’t reach into the suburbs to become an option for those in places like Ferndale and Royal Oak who might want to come downtown to work or play. Proponents say you have to start somewhere, and building even a short stretch will generate interest through induced demand. And besides, there’s only enough money to build the 9.3-mile stretch in Detroit, they say.

That debate will play itself. Or maybe it won’t. Either way, Saturday was a day for exploring, or at least heavy observation. I’d driven long stretches of Woodward countless times, but never really looked at life along the route, nor the physical challenges that must be conquered when engineering a mass transit rail line along the ancient road. And there are a few.

But first, music. You need the right background noise to create the proper mood for such a trip. The Doors seemed like a logical choice, but in retrospect their particular dark, surreal organ-based rhythms were wrong for a sunny August Saturday afternoon. I should have gone with some of the more gritty-urban Velvet Underground-Lou Reed stuff. More languid, less weird. But I digress; nothing I can do about it now. So it was Jim and the boys. The Lizard King would be our piper.

I equipped myself with proper tools: a big digital Nikon and one of my beloved Moleskin notebooks – the same little black books that Hemingway used. I’ve been addicted to them for years. Very handy. And there’s only one writing instrument I ever use: the Uniball Jetstream roller ball pens. I horde these things and never loan them. They’re magnificent. Black or blue only.

The day began with a massive, greasy breakfast at Louie’s, the Albanian-run place on the outskirts of Eastern Market, followed by a two-hour nap to sleep it off ... a time-honored tradition with me. It was after 1 p.m. before I could peel myself out of bed. First, there were pedestrian errands of the lifelong suburbanite variety to be done – a fruitless trip to Old Navy, the post office and then Eddie Bauer at Somerset Collection, to see if there were any final-clearance bargains for riffraff like me. There wasn’t. I did manage to find a new pair of shoes for work, to replace the ones my big feet had torn apart. Again, I digress ... my apologies. Just setting the stage.

The errands took me almost to Pontiac anyway, so the trip logically began there. Woodward forms The Loop around part of the city because, well, it’s a loop. That would solve the issue, I suppose, of how to turn the rail cars around for the trip back down Woodward (called U.S. 24 Business up here). It also appears to be an easy connection to other transit lines because the bus and Amtrak stops are along Woodward in Pontiac.

Will the rail line ever reach that far north? I have no idea, but it’s the logical and physical terminus. It could attract commuters the full 27 miles from Detroit (and vice versa), and would certainly be attractive to those who wish to patronize Pontiac’s well-known collection of clubs, such as Clutch Cargos. Has anyone ever called Pontiac the Windsor of Oakland County? Because they should. The Girls Gone Wild bus was idling outside of the church-turned-dance joint that is Clutch Cargos. I have photos at the end to prove it.

As you drive south, you enter the Bloomfields and Birmingham. It has the obvious monied East Egg feel – massive homes, a manicured tree-lined boulevard, Cranbrook, etc. If communities have the option to opt out of funding a system, such as they do with SMART, I could see that happening here. There are long stretches with no logical stopping place because it’s primarily residential, and I can’t picture Tom and Daisy Buchanan hopping a train to work. But maybe I’m wrong. And maybe there won’t be an opt-out option.

Woodward gets more lively as you travel south. Long stretches of curbside strip malls and shops blur past but are indicative of continued investment here. Every type of store catering to every sort of want, whim and need can be found along the avenue. It’s not all upscale: A few seedy motels dot the roadside. There’s even something called the Self Esteem Shop.

Eleven Mile Road was the original terminus of the proposed first leg of the rail line, the one approved in 2008 by the Big Four – the elected executives of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, and the city of Detroit. There’s not too much here – a flower store, Marathon station and a church. But you’re a short jog from downtown Royal Oak, and that is the mother lode. Royal Oak is the trendy “it” spot to hang out (and spend cash) and would certainly benefit from a nearby rail line bringing people from north and south.

After little Pleasant Ridge, there’s Fabulous Ferndale, home to more clubs and avant garde-kitschy retail. If you’ve ever said to yourself, “My God, I *have* to dance tonight to Kajagoogoo and Flock of Seagulls” then this is the city for you because it’s where Boogie Fever Café & Disco is. And if you carry your ‘80s nostalgia to the full Bright Lights, Big City excess, then a train could get you close to home without too much danger (at least if you life within reasonable stumbling distance of a station).

At Eight Mile, entering Detroit, you have the mothballed State Fairgrounds that’s rapidly being overgrown with grass and weeds. A busy SMART/DDOT bus stop indicates there is some level of mass transit need at this spot. Across the street are the massive Woodlawn and Evergreen cemeteries. Not much development opportunity there.

But also at Eight Mile, on the northbound side, is a large fenced field with a red sign touting a new 330,000-square-foot retail development called The Shoppes at Gateway (link). There is where Meijer said it will build a store, and developers plan an open-air mall of 40 stores on 35 acres at a cost of $90 million. It’s supposed to open next year, according to the sign. If this is built, it’s easier to make the case for stopping at Eight Mile – where there will be more than empty space and dead people – until more money is pooled to extend the route north.

Just south of Eight Mile is the upscale outpost known as Palmer Woods. It also marks the entry into the hardscrabble portion of the ride. There’s life along Woodward here, but it’s vastly different than the bucolic northern portion of the avenue. Instead, there are blocks of boarded-up stores and shops, and some buildings are reduced to nothing more than rubble of bricks and wood.

The surviving or thriving stores here are check-cashing joints, fast food stops, beauty supply outlets, dollar stores and seedy flop houses and motels – the symbols of urban blight, poverty and the American race story that’s told in fits and spurts. This is a very different world than Berkley and Birmingham, but there is life here and just maybe a rail line will bring the economic development that supporters promise. There are entrepreneurs here willing to spend their money in this part of Detroit, and you can see their attempts at making this neighborhood a better place (and to make some money).

Woodward through much of the northern stretch of the city and Highland Park is filled with people going about their business or just lingering on stoops and sidewalks, neighbors and friends chatting away on a warm summer afternoon. But I am very conscious of being one of the very few white faces here, and that’s something that’s going to hang over the rail project because racial issues may be the biggest subtext in metro Detroit. You can’t get away from it. And it’s one of the issues that people on both sides of the rail project discuss, but only in hushed tones and rarely in public. Will white suburbanites and black city residents both use the train? They have to, to make it anything more than People Mover V. 2.0, and this is going to have to be something discussed in the open.

We’re getting a bit too deep and philosophical. Let’s get back on track (pun slightly intended). Woodward is under construction for about a mile in the city, where MDOT is putting down a concrete surface (link). That project probably gives a glimpse of what rail construction might be like in a couple years – lots of orange barrels, single lanes and plenty of frustration. Will it be worth it?

From there, Woodward passes into the familiar big elements that make putting a rail line downtown so attractive: the major cultural centers, Wayne State, the sports stadiums (including a new hockey arena eventually, casinos, retail, restaurants, hotels, companies, etc., until you get to Hart Plaza and the Detroit River. This is the stuff the rail line’s private investors want people to ride into the city to patronize. That makes sense, and will make them some money.

There also are some stretches of vacant land, tumble-down buildings and grinding poverty here, too. At least one fellow was sleeping on the sidewalk, his worldly belongings and wheelchair parked next to him. Steps from major institutions and massive corporations are fast-food eateries with thick Plexiglas windows separating the lobby from the counter. Life is very real in Detroit.

Building the line downtown will be relatively simple. The avenue is wide and has no overhead obstructions. And let’s not forget, there were street cars operating on Woodward, so this really isn’t anything groundbreaking. It’s bringing rail back to the metro region.

Two major issues I do see:

1. If the rail line is going to run in the median, does it replace the strips of grass, trees and flowers? And how will the “Michigan Left” cut-throughs be handled? Will they be closed and turning only possible at intersections? That would be colossally inconvenient.

2. How do you co-mingle traffic – cars and trucks driven by people who did not grow up with trains on the streets – safely and effectively? Can you mass-educate people? And how would the annual Woodward Dream Cruise be affected by a train line cutting down the avenue?

These are questions the engineers and planners (and politicians and their hired guns) will tackle, and the public will be able to provide input on at upcoming meetings. Those will be some interesting exchanges, I imagine.

Will I personally use a rail line if it’s built? I live downtown and can envision myself boarding the train on Sunday morning to head north to Hi-Tops bar in Royal Oak, the only place in town that airs Cleveland Browns games during the NFL season. The Browns suffer from the same lack of winning DNA that the Lions do, so it should come as no surprise they can turn a man to drink. Having a train home just a couple of blocks away would keep me out of serious trouble after the game. Also, my lawyer is right nearby, too. Double win.

And now some obligatory background information ...

Woodward apparently began life being called Court House Avenue when it was laid out in 1805, after the massive fire that leveled much of Detroit. It eventually took the name of the man who played a key role in designing the rebuilt Detroit - Augustus B. Woodward, a Virginia native and lawyer in Washington who was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as the Michigan Territory’s first judge, in 1805.

Judge Woodward, whom historians describes as a sort of Oscar Madison lifelong bachelor-slob character in appearance, apparently was a contentious judge who was instrumental in planning the city of Detroit (which, if you’ve tried to navigate this town, should be held against him) and the creation of the University of Michigan (which also should be held against him, says this Ohio State fan).

He died at age 52 in 1827, after having become a judge in Florida – unwittingly establishing the trend of Michiganders snowbirding south to the Sunshine State for their twilight years.

Woodward Avenue’s history is filled with milestones: It was the first concrete paved road, in 1909, between Six Mile and Seven Mile. The first electric stoplight anywhere was installed on the avenue in 1920. In June 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King led 125,000 demonstrators down Woodward in a civil rights march shortly before his legendary "I Have A Dream" speech in the nation’s capital. In 1970, the former U.S. 10 become M1.

So that’s it. I don’t have any profound insights to lay on you. It’s a road and it snakes it way through just about every aspect of American life in Michigan (except maybe the woods-and-water stuff). And it will likely have trains on it again.

Below are some photos from the trip, with captions underneath each. Enjoy.



Sitting outside Clutch Cargos in downtown Pontiac. Go figure.



This is the southbound Woodward view in Bloomfield Township.



There is new construction along most of the route.



This is one of several cheap motels around Eight Mile.



The bus station near Eight Mile and Woodward.



The vacant State Fairgrounds. Future development site?



Actor Thomas Jane walks past here in the opening of HBO's "Hung."



This is where Meijer and an open-air mall are planned -- a huge boost at Eight Mile.



WNIC's Jay Towers is ubiquitous along most streets these days.



Panhandlers will lose business if there's a train on Woodward.



Also at Woodward and Eight are cemeteries. Even with new Sunday hours, this is literally and figuratively a dead zone for development.



This is looking south in a cut-through across Woodward. Will the trains take these away, or travel on either side of them? That's a major design question.



As you get into Detroit, the seedier side of life becomes more evident.



Highland Park has a stretch of new retail development, which could be replicated elsewhere along Woodward, according to transit backers.



A failed legal business and failed Chinese food business. Which failed first in this spot? Will light rail mean places like this are replaced with new investment?

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper shifted the aggressive John Baird from transportation minister to the post of government House Leader today in a cabinet shakeup that could have local ramifications.

Chuck Strahl, who was Indian affairs minister for the past three years, replaces Baird as transport minister.

It’s unclear is if the change has any meaning or impact on the Detroit River International Crossing project that would build a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Baird was a key figure in Canada’s offer (which originated from a request by MDOT) to cover up to $500 million of Michigan’s bridge project expenses not otherwise paid by the U.S. federal government or private sector.

Enabling legislation to allow MDOT to proceed on DRIC remains stalled in a Michigan Senate committee. Critics say it gives MDOT too much financial power without any political oversight, and some Senators favor a privately funded proposal to instead twin the Ambassador Bridge.

Because Strahl has dealt mostly with aboriginal affairs, there’s few political clues about how he’ll deal with the DRIC situation compared to Baird. At this point, there’s no reason to think he’ll do anything but continue the Harper government’s position. Whether he’s open to negotiation with the Ambassador Bridge owner is another question.

Strahl, 53, is a British Columbia native who represents a wilderness area in Parliament, whereas Baird hailed from Ontario. Strahl also announced in 2005 that he has inoperable/terminal lung cancer.

If Canada’s parliament is a hockey game, Baird could be thought of as a goon-enforcer. The Toronto Star today described him as an “aggressive partisan” and “government pit bull” in the House of Commons.

In the DRIC debate, he was staunch in defending his government’s position supporting the proposed public bridge and in its opposition to Manuel “Matty” Moroun’s proposed private second span for the Ambassador Bridge.

Under Canada’s system of government, the House Leader position is very key for a minority government — such as the position Harper’s Conservative Party is in — because that person is responsible for working with opposition parties to keep the keep the legislative process working.

Baird replaces the retiring Jay Hill as House Leader.

Let’s indulge in some political flights of fancy today. Rick Snyder and Virg Bernero say they’re not yet ready to name their backup quarterbacks, but here are some possibilities – some with tongue firmly planted in cheek – for lieutenant governor:

First, the Virg …

~ Andy Dillon: He’s term-limited, but my feeling is that he’ll find a soft landing in the private sector until he decides on his next political move. It feels as if he was more powerful as Speaker of the House than Jennifer Granholm was as governor. Would Labor tolerate Dillon on the ticket? He might be too toxic for their tastes, and Labor clearly is where Bernero’s money will come from. But the perception of Dillon as pro-business could bring benefits. Then again, Dillon didn't endorse Bernero at today's Democratic unity breakfast. Dave Bing also didn't endorse him. Is there a third-party Dillon-Bing run in the works? No, but it's amusing to think about. Dillon also supports the proposed new public Detroit River bridge. Bernero prefers Matty Moroun's span. No Bromance here.

~ Alma Wheeler Smith: She’s reportedly on the short list, and many considered her the best of the Democrats before a lack of cash forced her out of the race early. Politically, she would satisfy a need to appeal to women and minorities. She also would be immune from the criticism leveled at Bernero that he’s an unhinged madman liable to fly wildly off the handle at any moment. Money is on her. Oh, and she’s from Snyder’s neck of the woods, so there’s potential that she could piece off some votes from him there.

~ Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: Don’t laugh. She needs a job. And Bernero already has at least tenuous ties to the Kilpatrick clan: He hired former Kwame Kilpatrick press secretary Jamaine Dickens as his campaign spokesman. Dickens was gone from the Kilpatrick scene by 2005, so his name isn’t connected with the subsequent nonsense. He also reportedly has done work from Granholm and Barack Obama, so one would think he passed the sniff test. But it remains to be seen if even a thin link back to Hizzoner will be used as a weapon by Bernero’s critics. As for Cheeks Kilpatrick, there’s no real chance she’ll be on the ticket, is there? She’s way too connected to the family mess, and I doubt she has any interest in being second fiddle to the relatively unknown mayor of Lansing in an unsure race.

~ The field: The Associated Press (link) lists some intriguing names, including Freman Hendrix, Gary Brown, Buzz Thomas and Brenda Lawrence, the mayor of Southfield. Lawrence is interesting because she could potentially steal a chunk of Oakland County votes. At least theoretically, on paper. UPDATE: Someone this afternoon floated the name of former state Rep. Steve Tobocman, who was strongly anti-Moroun. Unsure if that's a serious possibility or not.

And now for the Nerd …

~ Pete Hoekstra: West Michigan Dutchmen don’t get to be governor, just lieutenant governor (See Posthumus, Dick). Adding Hoekstra to the ticket could shore up Snyder’s Republican bona fides among the Calvinist-Tea Party-wooden shoe/tulip crowd that screeches “RINO” in j’accuse! fashion at him. But it seems unthinkable that the west side of the state would vote for a deeply pro-Labor, pro-choice Democrat, so maybe Snyder doesn’t need Hoekstra. But Snyder's nightmare scenario is that they stay home on election day, which is basically a vote for Bernero.

~ Mike Bouchard: He’s a Mitt Romney Republican. Romney was a successful businessman turned relatively successful politician. Romney's father was a successful businessman turned successful politician. Snyder is a successful businessman turned politician. Bouchard could ensure the Oakland County vote, but it’s hard to image Brooks Patterson’s fiefdom casting its lot with Bernero. Bouchard also likes to run for a lot of elected jobs. That’s all I got, folks.

~ Mike Cox: HAHAHAHA.

~ The field: Names surfacing include a slew of state lawmakers, including the anti-film incentives Nancy Cassis from Novi. Cynthia Pasky, president and CEO of Detroit-based Strategic Staffing Solutions who has deep connections in the business community is another contender. Someone from academia is possible, too. But Snyder’s handlers may want someone with deep legislative or government experience to balance his outsider cachet. A political veteran on the ticket in the current anti-incumbent atmosphere might not be hazardous in the No. 2 spot, Joe Biden-style. Interesting name: Lauren Hager, who came up short in his bid for the state’s 25th Senate District, in St. Clair County. He’s got the legislative experience (three House terms), little baggage, conservative credentials – and since the primary, nothing to do. UPDATE: Some other names fed to me as potentials ... former Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and DTE veep and former co-House speaker Paul Hillegonds.

Some longshots …

~ William Milliken: He’s become the hoary cult figure of moderate Republicanism in Michigan, the last of the Nelson Rockefeller branch of the party. Today, he’s 88 years old. He’s too old, too smart and too respected to lower himself to this job. Snyder already is said to be cut from some of the same cloth, however. Milliken was also the last lieutenant governor to get the top job. And that came only because George Romney resigned in 1969 to become HUD secretary for Richard Nixon. Unlike Romney, Milliken never claimed he was brainwashed.

~ Jim Leyland: Four years ago, Michigan was half-serious about electing him governor after his blend of Morris Buttermaker-Lou Brown baseball managerial skills (and a lot of Marlboros) led the long-moribund Detroit Tigers to the World Series. Four years and a half-billion dollars of Mike Ilitch’s payroll money later, fans grumble that Leyland is a King Lear-Granholmian character that needs to go. So why not go to Lansing?

Hazen Pingree: He’s been dead since 1901, but hear me out. He was one of the towering figures in Michigan political history, and he was close pals with the idol-guru of Republican-Progressives, Teddy Roosevelt. If we can clone sheep and are into digging up dead governors (hello, Stephens Mason!), then why not scrape up some Pingree DNA and reconstitute this lion? Have you *seen* the statue of him in Grand Circus Park? Do you think anyone elected to any political office in the past 25 years will get a statue like that today? Pingree was a genuine war hero and once escaped from a Confederate prison. He was mayor of Detroit, championed mass transit, busted monopolies and was into urban farming. We need this guy. Grab a shovel.

~ Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi: If you watch Jersey Shore, you know Snooki. And if you watch Jersey Shore, you probably can’t name the current or any former lieutenant governors. I could name only the past two before resorting to the Wikipedia to look up Engler’s first No. 2 (Connie Binsfeld). Snooki would bring attention and notoriety to the job, something lacking under John Cherry’s near-obscure tenure in the post. But she’s not a Michigan resident, so this (sadly) is moot. The statehouse could use a reality TV makeover. If they’re not going to get anything done, be useless in an entertaining way, I say.

Relaxing in the warm afterglow of Tuesday night's primary election results, some thoughts ...

~ These words today, via the Free Press, from Gov. Jennifer Granholm on the gubernatorial race:

“I think people are looking for somebody who is outside of Lansing and I think (Rick Snyder's) business background is appealing to people. We’ll see what happens.”

The candidate she endorsed today is Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, and her comments are a lukewarm endorsement at best, a passive-aggressive rejection at worst. It sounds as if she thinks aggressively pro-labor Bernero doesn't have much of a hope against the moderate deep-pockets of Snyder.

~ Prior to the election, a couple of Pete Hoekstra yard signs popped up in my Lafayette Park neighborhood. I'm an apartment dweller, but it's no secret that the nearby townhome co-ops are, shall we say, a bit Left-leaning. My grandfather may have voted for Thomas Dewey in 1948, so I'm probably not fit material to live there.

Anyway, seeing those Hoekstra signs surprised me. A conservative West Michigan Dutchman getting support from the Mies van der Rohe crowd? That made me wonder if the Calvinists had made inroads in Detroit that I wasn't aware of. Turns out, it meant nothing. Hoekstra joins Dick DeVos and Dick Posthumus as the third consecutive Grand Rapids-area Dutch Christian Republican to fail to win the governer's seat.

~ Many of the transit wonks I've talked to in recent days agree that Monday's visit by Ray LaHood to talk about Woodward light rail was very much an 11th-hour campaign event for Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. LaHood, Dave Bing, Granholm and Debbie Stabenow all thanked each other for their involvement in the light rail effort, but special emphasis was made to credit Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick, it will be recalled, shifted her political support earlier this year away from local commuter rail projects to the high-speed rail effort favored by the Obama administration (link). She was also in a verbal squabble with SEMCOG over the pace of its Ann Arbor-Detroit rail project.

Now that she's been ousted from Congress, it's unclear who will take her seat on the House transportation appropriations subcommittee.

SEMCOG said it plans to eventually meet with Hansen Clarke, who beat her Tuesday.

When U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announces on Monday (link) that the $400 million to $500 million Woodward Avenue light rail plan has begun the federally required environmental impact statement process, it will represent the closest metro Detroit has come to realizing a mass transit system since 1976.

That's when President Gerald Ford (literally a Michigan man) offered $600 million in federal aid to construct a rapid-transit system for the metro Detroit region, Carmine Palombo, the transit guru at SEMCOG, told me.

If you look around, you'll notice no street cars or subway stations. Ford's offer fell by the wayside because of the traditional city-suburban inability to get along or agree on anything, ruining everything and the plan was abandoned. What a shocker, eh?

In 1976, $600 million was a massive amount of money. Heck, today it's huge. But will metro Detroit get its hands on federal funding today, enough to make this starter line on Woodward a reality? That remains to be seen. The region has -- and let's be honest here -- an ugly history when it comes to mass transit since they pulled up the street car rails in the 1950s.

The environmental impact study is a positive step. The project needs to have that out of the way to qualify for federal funding, which is what will pay for an expected 80 percent of the effort. The $125 million programmed by the private M1 Rail effort that's cooperating with the city to build the first portion of the rail line (from Hart Plaza to New Center) also boosts the region's chances of getting money from Washington, Palombo said.

And I think the Obama administration would love to be able to say, "Look! We did something for Detroit that has nothing to do with cars!" The political fixers surrounding the president are keenly aware that Detroit and its woes remain a global story, so being able to do more than bail out the auto industry would be a valuable feather in Obama's cap heading into his 2012 reelection campaign.

Transportation infrastructure leaves a lasting legacy, too. Detroit doesn't have much of that.

The People Mover opened in 1987, but mass transit advocates always have said that the 2.9-mile circulator is little more than a piece of a larger, regional system. But nothing concrete has happened since then. Some proposals have surfaced and gained traction, such as DARTA, but the usual bogeymen -- lack of regional cooperation, parochial squabbles, labor protectionism, etc. -- killed everything before a single shovelful of dirt could be turned.

The 1976 proposal got to the point, I'm told, that the environmental requirements were satisfied, engineering was done, models created ... but then everything fell apart.

Today, there is still disagreement on how a Woodward Avenue line should look and operate (center-of-street or along the curbs), how many stops and where, etc. And everyone agrees this line must be part of an eventual wider system of commuter and light rail and buses. It also must soon extend far past the city limit at Eight Mile Road, transit insiders say, to at least Pontiac. Otherwise, this might not be much more than People Mover 2.0.

Transit czar John Hertel oversaw the creation of a proposed $10 billion regional mass transit plan that would be built over 25 years only as ridership dictated. That plan was approved in December 2008 by the elected executives of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and Detroit. The Woodward rail line is the backbone of Hertel's plan, which calls for it to eventually reach deep into the suburbs, link to the bus systems (including SMART, which Hertel now heads) and to the People Mover. It also would link to spur lines up Gratiot and Michigan avenues and to the proposed high-speed commuter rail link between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

But all of that stuff remains on paper until the Woodward line is built. You have to start somewhere, and that street is the spine of the city -- but will the politicians have enough backbone of their own to finally make this happen?

According to a post tonight on the popular DetroitYes.com forum, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will make what's believed to be a $25 million federal funding commitment for the Woodward Avenue light rail project at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The post comes from an invitation sent out by Bob Berg's public relations firm, which does such work for the city.

E-mails seeking additional comment were sent to Berg and Mayor Dave Bing's media relations staff.

It was being reported this morning that LaHood will announce $25 million in funding for the project. I'm assuming, but not certain, this is different from the $25 million that MDOT was awarded earlier this year for Woodward light rail.

At the announcement apparently also will be Bing and Peter Rogoff, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.

The city and a private consortium of investors called M1 Rail are cooperating on a $425 million two-phase project to build a light rail loop from Hart Plaza to the city limits at Eight Mile Road. M1 Rail has raised $125 million for the stretch between Hart Plaza and New Center, and the city would handle the remaining portion.

A deal was worked out to allow the private money to act as the required local funding match for federal funding sought by the city to complete its portion.

LaHood's office earlier this week said nothing was schedule yet for a trip to Detroit, but Bing and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (in a debate for the 13th District seat she's trying to keep) also said in recent days that LaHood is coming soon -- presumably with swag from Washington, and every politician worth his or her weight in federal appropriations will be bucking to be near the podium when he makes his announcement.

Love or loathe him, you have to give Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun credit: He and his lieutenants certainly are creative.

The latest burst of ingenuity is a proposal unveiled Wednesday to create a temporary floating bridge system that could be deployed across the Detroit River in any emergency that shuts down the Ambassador Bridge.

Officials from Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Co. compared it to the temporary bridges used by the U.S. military to span rivers in war zones -- think of Elliott Gould's paratrooper character demanding a British Bailey bridge to replace a Dutch span blown to bits by the Nazis during the movie "A Bridge Too Far." Something like that.

The scheme also neatly deflates (at least in the minds of its backers) one of the primary justifications for the $5.3 billion competing public bridge proposed for about 2 miles away from the Ambassador Bridge: Redundancy in case of disaster or terrorist attack.

Now, the threat of terror attack -- ostensibly by al Qaeda frogmen planting underwater demolition charges, or some such thing, because the post-9/11 border security apparatus should *certainly* be able to sniff out a massive truckload of explosives, right? -- has always seemed a bit of a stretch as a justification because one would assume terrorists would know enough to take out both bridges. They managed to topple both World Trade Center towers and level a chunk of the Pentagon using amateur pilots aiming for much larger targets than bridges. Any combat pilot can tell you the immense difficulty of taking out bridges despite the best technology and experience.

Moroun's plan to build a new permanent span immediately adjacent to the 81-year-old bridge he bought in 1979 has been dismissed by critics as not effectively redundant because both spans could be taken out at once by accidents or maniacal madmen.

Natural disaster, on the other hand, is a more serious consideration. Heavy black smoke from an industrial fire in Windsor not too long ago shut down the Ambassador Bridge for several hours. That was heaven-sent for those who oppose Moroun's second span proposal and instead favor the public bridge idea.

But now the Ambassador Bridge company says its temporary bridge could be erected quickly, in days, anywhere in the country where disaster strikes and halts bridge traffic. The span would be stored in pieces on land when not in use.

On the other hand, the proposed public bridge wouldn't have been shut down by the fire/smoke because it was upwind. Hence, no need of a pontoon bridge.

The idea for the Bridge-on-Demand system was made by DIBC President Dan Stamper on Wednesday at the Northern Border Security Conference hosted by something called the Michigan Security Network at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn.

The bridge company, in a statement Wednesday evening, said it is contracting Livonia-based bridge engineers American Consulting Professionals Inc. to design the temporary bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge span is 1,850 feet long. The longest military pontoon bridge ever constructed (if the Wikipedia is to be believed) was 2,034 feet by the U.S. Army across the Sava River between Bosnia and Croatia in 2005 (link).

U.S. military floating bridges are designed to handle the M1A2 Abrams tank, which weigh in at 135,200 lbs each -- far more than any full tractor-trailer.

Here are some links to information about temporary bridges, both floating and elevated:

~ Pontoon/floating bridge history here.

~ Bailey bridge history here.

~ Bailey Bridge corporate site here.

~ Federal Highway Administration site on temporary bridges here.

Apparently, the football played by the Detroit Lions is not the only gross thing at Ford Field.

A new report by ESPN runs down health department inspection reports from the 107 stadiums used by the four U.S. major leagues, and Ford Field is listed at 70 percent of vendors with violations.

"Inspectors cited one location 11 times in the past six years after seeing employees who didn't wash their hands. At another stand, they found an employee's half-eaten hamburger in a warming unit," the network reported about the downtown Detroit football stadium.

I left messages seeking comment on the report from the Lions, the Detroit Tigers/Red Wings (who share the same corporate media relations) and the Detroit Pistons. The Lions indicated that its concessionaire, Chicago-based Levy Restaurants, will be responding to the report. (UPDATE: Statement is below)

Levy is owned by Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group North America and handles food service for dozens of major league ballparks and entertainment venues. (UPDATE: See bottom of this blog post for a statement from Levy)

Palace Sports & Entertainment, management company for the Detroit Pistons, hired Levy Restaurants in June 2009 to handle food service and hospitality at the three venues it owns or manages — the Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival.

Ilitch Holdings, which manages city-owned Joe Louis Arena and city-county owned Comerica Park, has a contract with Buffalo-based Sportservice (owned by parent Delaware North Companies) to handle food service for Tigers games.

Wendy Watkins, vice president of corporate communications for Delaware North, is trying to get a statement from the company's general manager. (UPDATE: Statement is below)

"The other thing they were trying to determine is how ESPN came up with their methodology to rate the percentage of critical violations," she said in an e-mail to me this morning. "I can tell you that the relationship between the local health inspector and the operations are generally very good. Typically through detailed daily and hourly audits by the operations staff, there are usually very few to no significant issues identified during the health inspection and if there is an issue, it is corrected immediately. I would think that the Detroit health inspector would support that fact."

The ESPN report notes the difficulty of serving so many fans under such conditions, and that no major outbreak of foodborne illness has been linked to stadium food. Sources in the story also say most violations are corrected on the spot, and that the term "critical violation" can sound more serious than it really is. There also can be differences in how serious violations are considered state by state.

Basically, some people have gotten sick, but thus far there's been no national trend of people dropping dead or having their guts crippled because of rancid stadium hot dogs. The report cites experts who say things could be better.

Concessions generate millions of dollars in revenue for pro sports teams.

The full ESPN report can be found here. There's also a link to a list of all venues by state here.

I'll save you some time. Here's what the report says verbatim about the four Michigan venues:

~ Comerica Park
Detroit Tigers
Vendors with critical violations: 51%
Inspection report excerpt: When inspectors measured the temperature of some cod at a high-end stadium club, it was 68 degrees -- more than 25 degrees warmer than required; inspectors demanded it be discarded.

~ Ford Field
Detroit Lions
Vendors with critical violations: 70%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors cited one location 11 times in the past six years after seeing employees who didn't wash their hands. At another stand, they found an employee's half-eaten hamburger in a warming unit.

~ Joe Louis Arena
Detroit Red Wings
Vendors with critical violations: 52%
Inspection report excerpt: Poisonous or toxic materials were stored atop items used to serve customers, posing a potential risk of contamination. Inspectors also found roaches below a soda dispenser at one location.

~ The Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit Pistons
Vendors with critical violations: 31%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors found food debris on a countertop slicer, which was a repeat critical violation for this stand.

That all said, it's interesting that ESPN issues this report now. It's guaranteed to garner attention in a sort of public service journalism way ... and could deflect the ongoing criticism of the network over its participation in the sordid LeBron James telecast "The Decision" -- something that resulted in ESPN getting savaged by critics.

STATEMENT FROM LEVY/PALACE SPORTS: "The Palace of Auburn Hills and Levy Restaurants are focused on providing our guests with memorable and safe dining experiences and our top priority is to ensure the health and safety of all our fans. We are committed to food safety in our operations and we have a solid food safety and sanitation program in place to provide the proper employee training, safety procedures and food handling techniques required to meet or exceed our standards as well as those of the local health department. We anticipate the Health Department's regular visits as another set of eyes to ensure our operations are delivering consistent safe experiences for our fans."

STATEMENT FROM SPORTSERVICE (from Jeff Behr, the firm's general manager at Comerica Park): "Food safety is a top priority for Sportservice at Comerica Park. Sportservice has been the food service partner of the Detroit Tigers for 80 years, and we have decades of experience serving millions of fans and a proven track record of providing safe, high-quality food options as part of a great game-day experience. We are vigilant in ensuring that Tigers fans are enjoying food that meets very high standards and is prepared and served in a very safe environment. As a global food service provider, we are committed to continuous enhancement of our safety practices through ongoing investment in training, equipment and other quality assurance programs and safeguards such as ServSafe certification. At Comerica Park, Sportservice’s highly trained chefs and managers oversee hundreds of associates working in a vast food service operation, with dozens of kitchens, concession stands and portable food and beverage carts, plus several restaurants and clubs. Sportservice works closely with city health inspectors to correct any problems that are identified, most of them immediately. The standards we are meeting are very high, and most of the issues that are noted are relatively minor and not a significant threat to health and safety. They are relatively few in number when considering the scope of our operation."

STATEMENT FROM LEVY/DETROIT LIONS: "Ford Field has always been committed to the highest food service standards in the industry.  In conjunction with Levy Restaurants, our food service partner, we will continue to make food safety, food quality and service to our customers our top priorities. Over the past year we served more than 1 million fans at Ford Field. Our commitment to those fans is to provide memorable and safe dining experiences each time they visit Ford Field. Ford Field, through Levy Restaurants, utilizes a third-party external vendor to audit our food safety and sanitation operations on a regular basis. These unscheduled reviews are considered an industry best practice. We also take immediate action to address and correct any suggestions for improvement the Health Department provides. The safety of our guests and our team members is our top priority and we follow a strict food safety and sanitation program."