It’s been proven time and time again that Detroit knows how to turn an opening day into an unofficial holiday. This article can be considered my unofficial campaign to give the Detroit Pistons the same treatment.
Pistons fans (and NBA league office), walk with me for a minute.
In case you haven’t heard, it’ll be a matinee start on Oct. 20 for the Pistons, with Detroit and the Boston Celtics officially tipping off the NBA season at 3 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock. So check your schedules, because the Pistons and Celtics will
likely have settled things by the time most of the workforce starts their evening commute.
I, for one, am completely here for this new format for a number of reasons. Being the first game of the year during an isolated time slot gives the Pistons a chance to highlight their young and ascending roster. It also gives the city of Detroit a chance to showcase itself on a national stage as the only game taking place in the afternoon.
A weekday afternoon tipoff could be a tough ask for some working fans. But I also see an opportunity for a revitalized fanbase to build something worth planning around. Let’s also remember it is not uncommon for other sports to have a daytime game during their opening week. Professional baseball and college basketball have successfully used the daytime opening-day format for many years, so this is not entirely uncharted territory.
Though it likely won’t draw the crowds and hooplah of their baseball opening day counterparts, here is hoping (or maybe wishful thinking) that Detroit fans will come out in earnest, and that the Pistons and the NBA can partner together and embark on a new, longstanding tradition for opening day. Let’s make the afternoon opening game an annual tradition for the league and make Detroit its permanent home. Who says no?
Imagine Detroiters playing hookie for a half day, and local gathering spots such as Campus Martius, Tin Roof, or Harry’s packed with fans, with the party spilling out all over Woodward and beyond. It’d be an atmosphere all the same as Tigers opening day, but with a better bet for good weather. And if you’re a Detroit sports fan, what’s not to like? Fans would get to essentially start and end the summer with an electric opening day for two of your four professional sports teams, not to mention a built-in half-day off of work.
Anyways, enough of me dreaming.
The city has a chance to replicate some of the magic that the Tigers’ opening day has supplied over the years, a pseudo-holiday in these parts.
Leave the primetime games for the New Yorks and the Golden States of the world. We’re good over here.
Adam Silver, if you’re reading this, please make this a yearly reservation.
Pistons fans, let’s show up and make this new opening day the start of something special.
