Auction of items at Silverdome nets $500,000
In this Monday, May 12, 2014 file photo, Jim Passeno of RJM Auctions moves a trailer next to a scoreboard in the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the NFL football Detroit Lions, in Pontiac, Mich. An auction featuring more than 3,000 leftover items in the Pontiac Silverdome has fetched about $500,000. Items up for sale included end-zone turf, pretzel warmers, a boxing ring, a soccer field, flat-screen televisions and scoreboards. The stadium's copper wiring sold for more than $77,000. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
PONTIAC, Mich. >> Copper wiring was the hot item during the nine-day auction of more than 3,000 leftovers from the dilapidated Pontiac Silverdome.
The sale ended Thursday and brought in about $500,000, The Detroit News reported Sunday. Items up for grabs from the former home of the Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons included end-zone turf, pretzel warmers, a boxing ring, flat-screen televisions and scoreboards.
Interest was intense for rights to the stadium’s wiring and saw 44 bidders. The final sale topped $77,500.
“We consider it a success,” said Jim Passeno, facilities manager for Plymouth-based RJM Auctioneers. “We had a huge response nationwide.”
Large amps and electrical switches were sold for at least $42,500. Signs for seating and scoreboards were sold for about $5,300. The boxing ring fetched $350, while soccer posts were bought for $700.
Turf that still featured the Lions’ logo from both end zones was auctioned for $1,600 each.
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The NFL team moved to Ford Field in Detroit in 2002, and the Silverdome fell into disrepair. Michigan’s sometimes harsh weather shredded the old stadium’s Teflon-covered roof.
Triple Investment Properties bought the Silverdome in 2009 for $583,000. The company has not said what its plans are for the 80,000-seat venue north of Detroit.
Plans to turn the Silverdome into a soccer stadium never materialized.
“They had a half-a-million-dollar soccer field they bought that was put in there as well as paying for maintenance of $1.5 million a year up until the roof caved in,” Passeno said.
