The Major Leagues
According to the personal finance website WalletHub, Michigan is home to one of the best sports cities in America. As one of only twelve metropolitan areas with a team in all four major-league sports – including the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Pistons, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Detroit Tigers – Metro Detroiters are huge sports fans. In fact, ask any serious hockey fan in Southeastern Michigan, and they’ll tell you that Detroit, a/k/a “Hockeytown,” is the best city for hockey in the country. And with the resurgence of the Motor City’s downtown area, teams that previously headed north to suburban stadiums – like the Lions and the Pistons – came back home to compete in downtown Detroit.
All four of Detroit’s major-league teams compete in the heart of the city, in what is the densest area of professional sports teams in the U.S. The Detroit Lions’ Ford Field and the adjacent Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park were built first as part of a downtown revitalization project. Detroit’s newest stadium, the Little Caesars Arena, opened in 2017 and is now home to both the Detroit Pistons and the Detroit Red Wings. All three stadiums were built with the playing fields beneath ground level, so as not to overwhelm the Detroit skyline with large imposing structures. Together, the three stadiums form the core of a mixed-use sports and entertainment center that’s a vibrant, walkable destination for residents and fans alike.
College Sports
In addition to Detroit’s major-league teams, Michiganders are huge supporters of their collegiate teams. That’s apparent at the University of Michigan, where its football stadium in Ann Arbor, MI, known as “The Big House,” happens to be the largest stadium in the country with a record-setting capacity of 107,601 people.
U of M and Michigan State University boast some of the best athletes in the country. As any sports enthusiast knows, rivalries make for more intense, high-stakes matches, and the rivalry between Michigan’s Wolverines and State’s Spartans doesn’t disappoint. Since 1953, the winning football team in their match-up is awarded the Paul Bunyan-Governor of Michigan Trophy. While the Wolverines lead the rivalry 70–36–5 through the 2018 season, the Spartans have been the victors recently, winning 7 out of their 10 most recent match ups.
But there’s more to the Michigan collegiate sports scene than U of M and State. To name just a few accomplishments in Michigan sports, Western Michigan University became the first Mid-American Conference team to be invited to participate in the Cotton Bowl after finishing their 2016 regular season undefeated. Outside of football, Michigan college teams have excelled, as well. In addition to its seven NCAA Division III national championships, Kalamazoo College’s Men’s Tennis Team has the longest known conference championship streak in any sport at any level in the world, with 74 consecutive Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships. In Swimming and Diving, Oakland University has won ten NCAA Division II National Championships.
Then there are the teams at Grand Valley State. The Lakers have won 22 national championships in 9 sports and have been the runner up 21 times in 10 sports. With that record, they’ve been awarded the prestigious National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors’ Cup for NCAA Division II schools in 12 of the 16 years between 2002 and 2017, finishing second in the remaining 4 years. The cup recognizes top athletic programs based on overall team finishes at the national level, the top athletic programs based on overall team national finishes, and Grand Valley has the distinction of being the first college east of the Mississippi River to win the Directors’ Cup for NCAA Division II sports.
Living in Michigan
Be a part of this passionate community and witness heart-stopping action and cheer for Michigan’s successful collegiate teams. Check out your residential options in Oakland County in the metro Detroit area. Contact Vanderhoef Properties at (248) 953-3305 or email Sales(at)VanderhoefProperties(dotted)com to connect with some of the best real estate agents in Michigan.