Joe Louis Arena has been transformed into a basketball arena for the upcoming Horizon League conference tournament.
The crew at The Joe began work immediately after Wednesday night's Red Wings game against the Blackhawks and will should have everything finished Thursday afternoon. The whole process takes a team of about 40 people putting in more than 12 hours of work.
The floor itself was manufactured in Michigan by a company called Connor Sports.
This weekend, the home of the Detroit Red Wings will host a basketball game for the first time since 2006. That was the year the Detroit Shock (Detroit's WNBA team at the time) was forced out of the The Palace because of another event and had to play their championship game at JLA.
"Actually the first event at Joe Louis was a basketball game between Michigan and Detroit so it's kind of coming back to its roots," explained Executive Vice President of Sales John Ceiszewski.
That game was in 1979, so it's fair to say that the focal point of Hockeytown actually has a pretty rich history in basketball as well. The size and structure of The Joe makes it an ideal venue for watching basketball as well as hockey.
According to Horizon League Deputy Commissioner Julie Roe Lach, it's also pretty exciting for student athletes to play in such a storied place.
"What we really wanted to do was bring all of our teams to one place -- we haven't done that in a long time -- and really build a tournament atmosphere because we heard from of student athletes and our coaches... They want to feel like champions," said Roe Lash,
Motor City Madness kicks off Saturday at noon, with Detroit Mercy playing their first game Saturday night at 7:30 against Youngstown State.
Oakland earned a double bye with their second place finish. They will play their first game of the tournament on Monday night at 9:30. For a full tournament bracket click here.
