Tigers Deny Plans to Build New Stadium

Tigers president Bo Schembechler has denied a report that team owner Tom Monaghan plans to build a new stadium in suburban Dearborn for the Tigers.

“As far as I know, that report is pure speculation, and it’s a little ridiculous that they would put it on television,” Schembechler said after the story aired Thursday night on television and radio.

Stations quoted Ron Cameron, host of the syndicated talk show “Sports View Today” and publisher of Sports Fan Journal, as saying Monaghan would use money raised from an employee stock option plan for Domino’s Pizza Inc. to build a retractable dome stadium in the western suburb. Cameron said construction would start in about two years.

“That really sounds very far-fetched,” said Ron Hingst, a spokesman for the Monaghan-founded Domino’s. Monaghan previously has said he wants to sell the pizza business to spend more time on philanthropic projects.

The Tigers have 18 years left on a lease with the city of Detroit for downtown Tiger Stadium. Mayor Coleman Young and other city officials have proposed eventually replacing the nearly 80-year-old stadium with a multipurpose facility. That move is opposed by a citizens’ group.