Detroit Sports Teams Make Big Bucks Amid Bankruptcy

Lots of money thrown around, some of it belonging to taxpayers

DETROIT — In this bankrupt city where even keeping the streetlights on has proved a struggle, one industry has continued humming along at a multibillion-dollar clip: professional sports.

The Tigers, who are playing in the American League Championship Series, have one of the highest payrolls in baseball at $148 million. Their star first baseman makes $23 million a year. And in a city that is contracting, the Tigers are expanding — their payroll is up 38 percent from 2011. The Pistons spent about $80 million to sign two second-tier players this summer. The Lions' quarterback signed a three-year extension in July worth $53 million. And the pizza entrepreneur who owns the Tigers and the Red Wings plans to build an arena as part of a downtown development project partly supported by $285 million in public money.

Detroit's glittering sports teams operate in a different economy than does the rest of the city. Because of billionaire owners, lucrative television deals, dedicated fans and public subsidies, the city's teams have few of the problems that have dragged their hometown into the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the nation's history.