One of the leaders of the group bringing a women’s basketball team back to Detroit says the “Shock” is just one of the names being considered for the new team coming in 2029.
“The name has not yet been determined, we are exploring multiple options, including the Detroit Shock, as hopefully some or all of you know was the name of the team that was here before,” Hadad told council members Tuesday, Nov. 18. “We’re open to suggestions if you have any but we’re excited to continue to work on that.”
Detroit basketball fans watched the Shock win three WNBA championships before the team moved to Tulsa in 2008 after the death of Pistons owner Bill Davidson. After Davidson’s wife moved the team to Tulsa, where they used the Shock name, the franchise became the Dallas Wings in 2016.
“We are going through a process to consider multiple options for a team name, the Shock is one of those options,” Hadad told reporters after appearing before council Tuesday. “We’re excited to go through that process, we’ve gotten some great suggestions and some great input. We’re excited to make that determination over the next couple of years.”
Hadad didn’t directly answer when asked whether an individual currently owns the rights to the Detroit Shock name,
“I will just say that that’s one of the options that we’re looking at, but there’s a multitude of options and we’re not far enough along in the naming process,” Hadad said.
Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved unanimously a brownfield tax abatement for cleanup costs related to the proposal. Several residents representing various organizations spoke in favor of a 75,000 sq ft practice facility and youth sports complex during public comment.
The Brownfield Tax Increment Financing package that requires state approval would reimburse up to $34.5 million for site remediation and preparation costs for the WNBA practice facility.
Tax increment financing is a tool that allows the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to reimburse a developer by capturing the taxes on the incremental increase of the taxable value of a property as a result of the improvements made to the property. The tax capture is then reimbursed to the developer.
Detroiters for Tax Justice, an organization led by activist Russ Bellant, opposes tax abatements that use public dollars to bring large developments to the city. The group argues the financing proposal splits the project into separate ownership and cost components in order for the developer to avoid triggering Detroit’s community benefits ordinance.
“This structuring raises concerns that the developer is sidestepping community input and accountability, despite relying heavily on public resources for private gain,” the group wrote.
The community benefits ordinance requires projects exceeding $75 million in total investments and receiving at least $1 million in public subsidies to undergo a community input process with impacted residents.
Haddad told reporters the youth academy is separate from the practice facility and will come later.
The proposed facility is in the East Riverfront District at the contaminated former Uniroyal site at located at 6000 East Jefferson Avenue, west of the MacArthur Bridge, and east of Meldrum Street and Mt. Elliott Park.
The Detroit Shock name is currently owned by a man named Ryan Reed, the president of the semi-pro Women’s Basketball League, which has struggled to gain traction since announcing its launch in 2023.
The league is finally playing its first games this fall, but it’s not clear how many teams make up the league. Reed told the Detroit Free Press earlier this year that he has been in communication with the WNBA about the possibility of relinquishing the name.
He said that the two have had “cordial conversations,” the paper reports.