Little Caesars Arena To Be The New Home For Detroit Red Wings

Starting in 2017, Detroit hockey fans may have to dawn togas and start chanting, “Pizza! Pizza!” because the Detroit Red Wings will be playing home games in the Little Caesars Arena.

Olympia Entertainment and the Detroit Red Wings announced on Thursday the new branding of a new $1.2 billion downtown arena, which is currently under construction and is expected to open in the fall of 2017.

So, to emphasize to Red Wings fans that this was not a joke, Little Caesars Pizza posted this strange animated video to their Facebook page, highlighting the multiple uses of the arena.

But, out of nowhere a purple octopus arm comes and takes a slice of pizza, which then becomes the Little Caesars mascot’s head. THEN the mascot’s head transforms into the Little Caesars Arena logo, which is really strange, because it kinda looks like a black blob with white streaks in it. When you squint, it might resemble something like a hockey puck.

The strangeness is similar to a recent Little Caesars commercial that we wrote about, which showed two floating heads discussing their love for LCP’s stuffed crust, deep dish pizza. We think the strangeness incorporated in Little Caesar’s recent advertising is enough to merit a separate article on it own.

After years of economic downturn in Detroit, the new 20,000 seat arena is what executives hope will be the cornerstone of the city’s economic resurgence. To ensure this, Little Caesars signage will literally be covering every surface of the Arena, except the uniforms — for now.

“The 20-year naming rights agreement averaging more than $6.25 million per year paves the way for Little Caesars Arena branding on the roof of the arena, on the exterior, at entrances and at center ice, among other opportunities,” according to The District Detroit website.

It may come as a surprise to some, and seem a bit cheesy to hardcore Red Wings fans, but it just so happens that the Red Wings hockey franchise and Litte Caesars Pizza are owned by the same Detroit billionaire, Michael Ilitch. Ilitch also owns the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

Currently, there is only one other pizza sponsored stadium in the world, it’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in St. Louis. Which makes the Red Wings the world’s first pizza sponsored professional hockey team.

Congrats, Detroit! The owner of your only hockey team decided to build a new arena and name it after his own pizza chain.