Barstow's Mayor failed to graduate from High School

It has recently come to TVT's attention that the 72-year-old Mayor of Barstow, Lawrence Dale, a lifer who is since retired from the Santa Fe Railroad failed to graduate from High School.

Official NHL Web site of the Detroit Red Wings notes Ilitch ownership of MotorCity Casino

An announcement on the official NHL Red Wings Web site about promotions in the hockey team's front office notes:

The Red Wings, an Original Six member of the National Hockey League, are owned by Detroit entrepreneurs Michael and Marian Ilitch. Other Ilitch-owned companies include: Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc., Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, the Detroit Tigers, Olympia Entertainment, Champion Foods, Olympia Development, MotorCity Casino Hotel, Little Caesar Pizza Kit Fundraising Program and Uptown Entertainment.

http://redwings.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=346072

YouTube: A promotional video for Olympia Entertainment, an Ilitch Holdings Inc. company

Promotional video of Olympia Entertainment a division or subsidiary of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. that manages Detroit's Fox Theater, Cobo Arena, Comerica Park, Joe Louis Arena, Hockeytown Cafe and other area entertainment venues.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jMAvMrMRWFU

Christopher Ilitch elected to the board of Detroit Renaissance

12.10.07

DETROIT, /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Detroit Renaissance today announced the election of David A. Brandon, chairman and chief executive officer of Domino's Pizza, as the chairman of its Board of Directors. William Clay Ford Jr. will remain chairman of the Executive Committee of Detroit Renaissance. Elected as vice chairman of the executive committee was James B. Nicholson, president and chief executive officer of PVS Chemicals.

"I would like to thank our leadership team for their commitment to Detroit and this region," said Detroit Renaissance President Doug Rothwell. "Their expert counsel and guidance help us to effectively navigate the Road to Renaissance and our efforts to transform the economy of Southeast Michigan."

The following directors were also elected to the Detroit Renaissance Executive Committee:

Dave Bing, The Bing Group;
Mary Sue Coleman, University of Michigan;
Anthony F. Earley, Jr., DTE Energy;
Alfred R. Glancy III, Unico Investment Company;
Chris Ilitch, Ilitch Holdings, Inc.;
Tom LaSorda, Chrysler;
Richard Manoogian, Masco Corporation;
Tom Ogden, Comerica Inc.;
Cindy Pasky, Strategic Staffing Solutions;
Roger Penske, Penske Corporation;
Sandra Pierce, Charter One Bank;
Richard F. Russell, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company;
Doug Steenland, Northwest Airlines;
Gail Torreano, ATT;
Alan E. Schwartz, Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn; and,
G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., General Motors Corporation

Detroit Renaissance provides leadership to accelerate the economic transformation of Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Renaissance accomplishes this work through serving as a catalyst to develop growth strategies, advocating for those strategies and championing specific initiatives that accelerate growth.

A 501(c)(3) organization that was formed in 1970, Detroit Renaissance includes the chief executive officers of the region's most significant employers and universities. For more information, visit http://www.detroitrenaissance.com/.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-10-2007/0004719900&EDATE=

Ilitch ups Tigers payroll to $130 million

12.09.07

Tigers owner spending generously to win now
Ilitch, 78, established Little Caesar's Pizza and owns the Red Wings

By Jim Salisbury
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PHILADELPHIA -- Meddlesome owners can drive general managers a little crazy. But there isn't a GM in baseball who wouldn't welcome this kind of meddling.

It was just before Thanksgiving. Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch was catching up on the coverage of baseball's hot stove season and couldn't help but notice that the Florida Marlins were taking offers on slugging third baseman Miguel Cabrera.

Ilitch called Dave Dombrowski, his team's president and GM, and asked whether the Tigers were interested.

Of course, Dombrowski said, the Tigers had interest. (Who wouldn't want a 24-year-old who has averaged 31 homers and 115 RBI the last four seasons?)

But that interest was tempered by the large price tag the Marlins had put on Cabrera. They wanted big prospects in return, and Cabrera figured to make more than $10 million in arbitration this winter, a sizable paycheck with the Tigers' payroll already approaching $110 million.

None of this bothered Ilitch.

"If there's something you can do, maybe we push our situation and see if we can make it work," Ilitch told Dombrowski.

That was code for: Go get Miguel Cabrera. Go get a World Series championship -- now.

And so Dombrowski, who had previously thought his wintertime wheeling and dealing was complete, showed up at the winter meetings Monday and immediately initiated talks with the Marlins.

The Tigers also sought lefthanded pitcher Dontrelle Willis in the deal. They presented a staggering package of six prospects, including two of the best in baseball, lefty Andrew Miller, 22, and center fielder Cameron Maybin, 20.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the deal was agreed upon and the Tigers had the look of a powerhouse club ready to get back to the World Series for the second time in three years.

"We made this trade to win now," Dombrowski said.

Tigers fans were so pleased with the deal that they purchased nearly $1.3 million worth of tickets on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Detroit News.

The excitement started with a phone call from the owner, the blessing to give up two prospects whose combined draft price tag was about $7 million, and a willingness to hike the 2008 payroll to close to $130 million.

"Not to say that we didn't have interest, but Mike Ilitch calling and saying, 'Why don't you see if you can be open-minded to that, if there's something we can work out?' kind of inched it along a little bit," Dombrowski said.

Ilitch, the founder of the Little Caesar's Pizza empire, also owns the Detroit Red Wings. He has already hoisted the Stanley Cup. At age 78, he clearly believes it's time to put a World Series ring on his finger.

Now he owns a baseball team capable of getting him one.

Willis joins Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson in a solid rotation that will benefit from plenty of offensive support.

The Tigers were second in the AL in runs (887) and slugging (.458) last season. With Cabrera likely to hit fifth behind Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez, they could be even more explosive in 2008.

"If you don't pitch well, they'll let you know," Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

"I bet there are some lefthanded pitchers that aren't too excited in the American League," said Boston manager Terry Francona, taking a look at the big right-handed bats of Sheffield, Ordonez and Cabrera in the middle of the Tigers' order.

"The American League has got a lot of good teams. And when you go through cities like Detroit, if your pitching is not in line, they cannot just beat you; they can beat you up and hurt you for about a week because they just maul you. There's no letup."

After 12 straight losing seasons, the Tigers won 95 games in 2006 and got to the World Series, where they lost to St. Louis. Last season, the Tigers did not make the playoffs. To get back there, they will have to contend with Cleveland, the defending AL Central champion, and even AL East stalwarts Boston and the New York Yankees, who annually contend for the division and wild-card titles.

AL teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians and Angels are so good that a team must act boldly, like the Tigers did, if they want to get to the playoffs. Hence, the Tigers' decision to give up top prospects, hike their payroll, and go for it now.

Trying to keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees is one reason the American League is superior to the National League.

"They have set the bar high," said Lou Piniella, who manages the NL's Chicago Cubs. "I think these American League teams say to themselves, 'Boy, if we want to get where they are, we've got to improve.' You've got to get after it. That's exactly what Detroit did."

And it all started with ownership.

Ilitch Consigliere fined and under investigation by California's FPPC; investigations warranted elsewhere

Late last year (10.24.06), California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) fined BarWest L.L.C. (a casino syndicate controlled by Michael J. Malik and Mrs. Marian Ilitch) on two counts of failing to comply with California's political reform laws. Malik had failed to report that his Detroit-based BarWest L.L.C. made a contribution of $26,600 in October 2004 to the San Joaquin County GOP Committee. As it was, then-GOP Congressman Richard Pombo, who also happened to be chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee that oversees Indian gaming matters, was from San Joaquin County.

Malik paid a fine of $6,500.

As that 2004-2006 investigation was coming to a conclusion, Michael Malik was again making other contributions to the campaign committees of individual members of the California legislature (primarily between July 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006) and failing to report those contributions as required under California's political reform laws.

In fact, it appears Malik may have contribute $25,000 or more to 15 or more political committees during that time and failed to report those contributions as a major donor under California law.

TVT understands the FPPC has been conducting an investigation for the better part of 2007 into Malik's failure to report these contributions and other matters involving payments by BarWest LLC, Michael Malik and lobbyists Malik employed in California.

One must consider that if Mr. Malik blatantly violated political campaign laws in California, it's possible he has also been violating political reform laws and lobbying disclosures in Michigan, New York, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

Certainly if California's FPPC finds Malik and his associates violated laws once again in California, it would be responsible for authorities in other states and Washington, D.C. where Malik is involved with political contributions and lobbying payments to investigate his giving practices.

Malik has partnered with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch family on various casino syndications and development projects over the last 15 years. However, Malik failed to win approval for a gaming license in Michigan in 1999 and was forced to transfer his shares in Detroit's MotorCity Casino to Marian Ilitch. Since then, throughout their various partnerships, Malik appears to have played the role of political "bag-man" or "bad cop" to Marian Ilitch's "good cop."

Some suggest Malik plays the role of Marian Ilitch's "Consigliere." It has been reported that there is a doorway that connects Malik's office to Marian Ilitch's office providing him with direct access into her private domain.

A business venture that involves Michael Malik and the Bay Mills Indian Community, a federally funded enterprise involved in the research and manufacturing of plastic parts and devices, is rumored to be under investigation by the FBI.

It would seem appropriate for the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) to revisit Mr. Malik's close association and affiliation with Marian Ilitch and the Ilitch Family.

Barstow's Mayor allegedly attempted to interfere with RFP process for $15 million contract

An 11.30.07 story in Barstow's Desert Dispatch suggests that Mayor Lawrence Dale was attempting to manipulate the process in order to guarantee that Micromedia Filtration, Inc. would be awarded a $15 million contract to modify the City's waste water treatment facility despite the City Council's direction to release an RFP and conduct a search for all qualified contractors.

A memo dated Oct. 30, written by Rodriguez and addressed to the council, accuses Mayor Lawrence Dale of interfering with the process, wanting to directly award the $15 million contract to Micromedia Filtration, Inc., instead of reviewing bids from other firms. Rodriguez wrote that he’d been given direction to award the contract to Micromedia in a meeting held on Oct. 18 with Dale and council member Steve Curran. Dale and Curran disputed Rodriguez’ allegations.

“The Mayor told me that the Council’s direction to me in this matter had been to write a (Request for Proposals) that would result in a contract award to Micromedia by effectively eliminating other potential bidders,” Rodriguez wrote in the memo.

Certainly if these allegations are true, this isn't the first time in the Mayor's seven year tenure in office that he has attempted to manipulate outcomes in order that his friends might receieve favorable treatment and even millions in financial gain. Clearly he's perfected that behavior in his quest to win a casino for his Detroit friends behind BarWest LLC.

One must wonder what he gets in return for such rewards to his friends because he doesn't report any campaign contributions or gifts from such individuals as required by California's political reform laws. Is his Railroad Foundation or other "charitable" affiliate benefiting?

Mayor Lawrence Dale has a history of closed doors and backroom secret deals. He's calendared an unprecdented number of closed sessions and previously unscheduled meetings.

When a previous independent Council majority voted against him on various matters, Mayor Dale was relentless behind the scenes trying to undue nearly every one of their decisions.

Mayor Dale often attempts to squash public debate and reigns over Barstow with an iron fist. Anyone who crosses the Mayor will eventually be a victim of his covert attacks and relentless need for revenge. Hector Rodriguez is the latest example.

Previously Congressman Buck McKeon had carried a an ear-mark to secure half a million dollars in new money for this project that would ulltimately be awarded to Micromedia Filtration, Inc.

You may want to review these related posts:

• Barstow's Mayor driven to change wastewater treatment facility consultant mid-stream despite opposition, in-experience, ethics and common sense


• Plot to give balance of wastewater contract to another consultant coincides with introduction of Rep. McKeon's half-a-million-dollar earmark


• Rep. McKeon secures $500,000 for Barstow sewer improvement project


• Barstow Council gambles on young wastewater firm


• Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale shotdown in first attempt at scheme to switch wastewater consultants mid-stream

Will Ilitch build hockey arena on site of Berry Gordy's failed Motown entertainment complex

12.04.07

Motown entertainment complex plans fall through
Berry Gordy's group couldn't raise money to build $28M facility north of the Fox Theatre.

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

...Hockey arena a possibility?

The three Woodward properties faced foreclosure April 1, 2008, because Motown Center owed about $14,000 in unpaid property taxes dating to 2005, according to the Wayne County Treasurer's office.

The back taxes were paid Nov. 29, days after The Detroit News first called Heidelberg-Yopp, asking about the delinquency.

The Woodward land could be combined with the other parcels owned by the Economic Development Corp. and the city, and sold to a developer, Papapanos said.

The city and the Detroit Economic Development Corp. own about half of the land within the first four blocks north of I-75, between Woodward and Park.

But the cost of acquiring other parcels and offering the space for one development has been too expensive, said Brian Holdwick, the growth corporation's vice president of business and financial services.

The city has marketed some of its land to prospective developers, perhaps for a mixed-use development, Holdwick said. The nearly four-block area has been called an ideal spot for a new Detroit Red Wings hockey arena according to one development expert. But Ilitch Holdings spokeswoman Karen Cullen declined to discuss specific locations for a new arena.

One development official suspects the land would give Mike and Marian Ilitch, owners of the Red Wings, an option other than building behind the Fox Theatre, where the family empire has acquired a wide swath of land.

"Ilitch always has two or three areas (in mind) to stay ahead of the speculators," said Patrick Dorn, executive director of the Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp. "You can't get a better, sweeter spot for an arena," than the Motown Center land and surrounding properties.

Cullen acknowledges the company is considering more than one location. She was unaware of the Motown Center property, but wouldn't rule it out.

"In the broadest sense, I don't want to get into various sites," she said. "We haven't made a decision on the arena and are still considering all of our options, both whether to renovate (Joe Louis Arena) or build new."

James Canning, spokesman for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, has not heard of any city effort to offer the land to Ilitch for a new hockey arena.

"It's a great parcel of land and our development guys will go out and market it," Canning said.

Though the Motown project won't be built, Canning said: "We have an awesome Motown museum (on West Grand Boulevard). The community needs to continue to embrace that location."

You can reach Robert Snell at (313) 222-2028 or rsnell@detnews.com.

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/ENT04/712040388/1424/ENT04

Tigers running lottery at Comerica Park

12.02.07

Tigers lottery? MLB eases up, a bit, on gambling

By Bill Shea
Crain's Detroit

Feeling like a little game of chance at Comerica Park?

Two kiosks at the stadium this past season sold $5 scratch-off Michigan Lottery tickets emblazoned with the Detroit Tigers logo. Prizes varied up to $100,000, and included team merchandise and even season tickets.

Legalized gambling, once unthinkable in relation to Major League Baseball, has gradually gained limited acceptance in the game as a source of revenue. The same Major League Baseball that once banned Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle for being associated with casinos has cautiously embraced advertising and sponsorships from various legalized gambling outlets — provided the casinos or lotteries don't permit betting on games.

Betting at games and betting on games is the crucial difference.

But those who keep tabs on the business side of the game agree that baseball is more tolerant of some forms of legalized gambling, especially when there is money to be made for teams and American culture has come to increasingly accept casinos and lotteries.

"Baseball will continue to change the configuration of its rules as their business practices shift and change. Their views on things that may have been taboo in the past change," said Maury Brown, president of Portland, Ore.-based Business of Sports Network, which includes a Web site devoted to the business side of baseball. "There's definitely a softening of (prohibitions against legalized gambling) in baseball."

New York-based lottery ticket maker Scientific Games Inc. spent more than six years trying to persuade baseball to sign a deal to allow team logos on state lottery scratch-offs, said Steve Saferin, vice president and president of properties. The company has licensing deals with Ford Motor Co., Chrysler L.L.C. and a variety of popular culture icons such as the TV show "American Idol."

"Lotteries now are in all but seven states and are viewed by a lot of people as a legitimate way to raise money for good causes," he said.

Finally, in 2006 the team owners unanimously approved a five-year deal.

The commissioner's office and the team owners' primary concern was the question of permitting any form of gambling in connection with the game, Saferin said. The memory of Pete Rose's lifetime banishment in 1989 for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds is still very much alive.

"A scratch-off lottery ticket is about as far from betting on teams as you could get," Saferin said, noting that the National Basketball Association and National Hockey Association already had deals with Scientific Games.

"The league decided this is a legitimate way for teams to generate incremental revenue. It got easier the past three years because a lot of other people had embraced the lottery category, including sports. It was difficult. They've come to the realization that their position needs to be more finely tuned. The real problem is sports betting. This is not sports betting."

Commissioner Bud Selig wanted a unanimous vote from the owners to OK the lottery tickets deal, Saferin said. The approval from owners was also to change MLB's bylaws that forbid team logos on lottery tickets.

Scientific Games rolled out the MLB tickets last year with a Boston Red Sox instant game. This year, 22 teams participated and Scientific Games printed about 175 million tickets since games began.

The Tigers-themed scratch-off tickets were a success this year, lottery officials said.

Since going on sale April 2, about $10 million worth of the scratch-off Tigers lottery tickets have been sold, the state said, which is about 10 percent higher than average $5 tickets sales. Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons scratch-offs have also been sold in the past.

The lottery reported fiscal year 2007 annual sales of $2.3 billion.

Each team receives a cut of the money that Scientific Games paid MLB for the rights to the team logos. Neither MLB nor Scientific Games would say how much the deal is worth, but it's believed to be in the millions of dollars. Teams also got money from local marketing Scientific Games did in each market, Saferin said.

Susan Goodenow, Major League Baseball's vice president of business public relations, declined to comment on the lottery tickets.

Rob Matwick, Tigers vice president of communications, said the team has had an advertising relationship with the lottery for several years, but the scratch-off promotion was through Major League Baseball.

A veteran of more than 20 years in baseball, Matwick said he's seen a shift in attitude about some forms of gambling.

"From an advertising and sponsorship standpoint, it's less restrictive than it used to be," he said. MotorCity Casino and MGM Grand Casino each advertise at Comerica Park. That's allowed because neither offers sports wagering.

"There are still prohibitions that are still in place that have to do with casinos," Matwick said, noting casinos are not permitted to show such things as playing cards or slot machines in stadium advertising.

MotorCity Casino is owned by Marian Ilitch, wife of Tigers owner Mike Ilitch. Baseball forbids its team owners from having a stake in casinos, but the Ilitches say she was never an owner, and baseball agrees — a position with its share of critics, including ex-Commissioner Fay Vincent.

Mike Dietz, president and director of Dietz Trott Sports & Entertainment in Bingham Farms, spent 17 years with Ilitch Holdings Inc., which includes the Tigers and Red Wings. He believes money from legal gambling is a natural source of revenue for sports leagues. Baseball reached a record $6 billion in revenue last year, thanks in part to gambling-related advertising and sponsorships.

"Everything costs more — to field a team, to give fans what they want. There are a lot of bills to pay and a lot of reasons to be open-minded about new sources of revenue," he said. There's only so many (sponsors) and so many are cutting back."

So what does the future hold for baseball and legalized gambling?

Business of Sports Network's Brown thinks it will be driven by profits.

"Are we going to see video poker at the ball park? I don't know. In 20 years, it wouldn't surprise me," he said. "Baseball has gotten wise and smart about how to extract revenue out of things other than baseball. It's a much more sophisticated league."

And perhaps another sign of shifting attitudes: Baseball's 2008 winter meeting will be held in Las Vegas.

Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626, bshea@crain.com

Tiger lottery facts:

• New York-based Scientific Games Inc. spent more than six years persuading Major League Baseball to allow team logos on state lottery scratch-off tickets. Other lottery games from Scientific include scratch-offs featuring Chevy, Dodge, Jeep, Lincoln, NASCAR, NBA, NHL, "American Idol," Hershey's and TV Guide.



• Point-of-sale and broadcast advertising for the Detroit Tigers instant game was done by Troy-based ad agency Simons Michelson Zieve Inc., which has done lottery work since 2005.
  

Los Coyotes tribal leader calls Barwest's Mike Malik "devil;" says he has "seduced" younger tribal leaders

Los Coyotes tribal spokeswoman and tribal elder Katherine Siva Saubel recently called Michael J. Malik, Sr. the "devil" and said he has "seduced" younger members of the tribe to jump aboard Malik's band-wagon. Among other things, Malik's group paid younger members of the tribe to appear in Barstow as "grassroots" volunteers during the 2006 election primary:

11.01.07
"Saubel said there is a council-only meeting today to discuss the casino efforts--a meeting she was not invited to be but plans to attend anyway. A full tribal council meeting is set for mid-November. Saubel claimed the Malik has 'seduced' the younger member of the tribe and called him 'the devil himself.'
" 'I was 83 when we started this. I'm 87 now,' Saubel said. 'I think he's just waiting for me to keel over.' "

Mike Malik and Mrs. Marian Ilitch are the principals behind the Detroit-based casino syndication BarWest LLC. Malik and Ilitch have proposed building several off-reservation casinos for tribes from opposite ends of California on a site that Barwest owns in Barstow, California.

Ilitch and her husband Mike Ilitch are the co-founders of the Little Caesars Pizza franchise. The family also owns the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, MotorCity Casino, Detroit's Fox Theater and other sports, entertainment and restaurant operations.

Malik and the Ilitches are behind stalled proposals to build unorthodox off-reservation casinos in Port Huron, Michigan; Barstow, Califorina; and in The Hamptons on New York's Long Island. (see also: Detroit Free Press exposes Malik/Ilitch casino enterprises)


Members of the Bay Mills Indian Community have expressed concerns about Malik's involvement in their casino ventures as well as a business venture involving the research and manufacturing of various plastics products. Rumors have circulated among Bay Mills members to suggest the FBI is investigating the plastics venture.

In 1999 the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) failed to grant Michael Malik a gaming license and he was forced to transfer his interests in Detroit's MotorCity Casino to Marian Ilitch before the casino could open its doors to the public.

Last year, following a two-year investigation, California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) fined Malik's Barwest LLC on two counts for failing to report a $26,600 contribution Malik made to the San Joaquin County GOP Committee in 2004 -- Malik paid a $6,500 fine; and TVT has learned the FPPC is investigating numerous unreported political contributions and questionable lobbying payments Barwest's Malik made in 2006.

Senator indicates "great deal of opposition" to Shinnecock proposal for Aqueduct

Blogger David M. Quintana at Lost in the Ozone... posts:

State Senator Serphin Maltese clarified that both he and other local elected officials, such as Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, are committed to have racing continue at Aqueduct.

The senator briefly commented on recent reports of a Shinnecock Indian group proposing to bring a casino to the Aqueduct site by saying that their offer wasn’t considered to be realistic.

“That’s not expected to happen,” he said. “Quite honestly, there was a great deal of opposition [to that]. Nobody knew what it would do. We were very apprehensive about the fact that other casinos [in] the surrounding areas have deteriorated [because of] their problems with prostitution, homelessness, vagrancy and vandalism.”

Maltese expressed his wish that a casino group in good financial standing step forth to offer their services to run Video Lottery Terminal operations.

Ilitch represents his mother at opening of MotorCity Casino's hotel

11.28.07

Ilitch Holdings President and CEO Christopher Ilitch, left, welcomes Edwin Davis of Dearborn and his fiancée, Annette Kjelstad of Norway, to the grand opening of the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit.

Ilitch, a member of the MotorCity Casino management committee was apparently representing his mother Marian Ilitch who is said to own 100% of MotorCity Casino.

Marian Ilitch reportedly borrowed $1 billion in 2005 to: acquire the gambling hall from MGM Mirage/Mandalay Resort Group and other minor investors; to cover the costs of the $300 million casino expansion; and to begin repaying certain other of these debts. At the time MotorCity Casino was valued at $1 billion.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071129/ENT11/711290347/1002/BUSINESS

http://prn.newscom.com/cgi-bin/pub/s?f=PRN/prnpub&p1=20071129/CLTH037&xtag=PRN-prnphotos-67306&redir=preview&tr=1&row=1

MotorCity Casino hotel opening delayed again

11.28.07

New MotorCity Casino Hotel welcomes its first guests

By HEATHER NEWMAN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Today's opening of the MotorCity Casino Hotel went off as the rest of the project has: stylishly late.

The hotel’s opening at Grand River and the Lodge was delayed from Nov. 1 until today to allow for the final deliveries of assorted items throughout the building. Then the opening was delayed from its original 3 p.m. start time for almost an hour as dignitaries waited for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to arrive... (Original Story)

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071128/NEWS01/71128057/1138/BLOG

MotorCity Casino: The NHL's home away from home in Detroit?

Earlier this month, MotorCity Casino hosted a Texas Hold'em Tournament featuring the Detroit Red Wings. Those who entered the tournament could play beside Red Wings team members for a fee of $500. Originally promoted on the Red Wings' official NHL Web site, the details of the poker tournament were later pulled from the site.

And now, it appears MotorCity Casino has been marketing its new hotel property to other NHL teams when they are in town to play the Red Wings. The Detroit Free Press reports today that:

"It's not a coincidence that two of the hotel's confirmed guests are the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators hockey teams."

One has to wonder if the Ilitch family's MotorCity Casino will play host to the likes of Rick Tocchet and Mrs. Wayne Gretzky (Janet Jones) or other's involved in the illegal sports gambling ring when they're in town on NHL related business.

MotorCity Casino COO says Farag was wrong fit as VP of hotel operations

An explanation for the departure of two key players at MotorCity Casino is finally offered in a Detroit Free Press article today:

"Vice president of hotel operations Asaad Farag and executive chef Mike Russell both left less than two months before the hotel was originally scheduled to open Nov. 1. The opening was pushed back to allow additional deliveries and training time, executives said.

"Neither of the men is talking about their departures, but having to work that closely [with MotorCity Casino owner Marian Ilitch and COO Rhonda Cohen] on every detail may have grated on them, especially when both men had very high-profile positions elsewhere (in Farag's case, directing a five-star hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, and other hotel openings; in Russell's case, winning multiple national and international culinary Olympics medals).

"Cohen said simply, 'Sometimes, let's face it, wrong fit. It happens.' "