DETROIT – Hi, and welcome to Flashpoint.
The NBA playoffs are underway, and so are the Stanley Cup playoffs. Baseball season is underway. But for the last three days, the focus of the sports world has been on kansas city. No games, no scoring, no trophies -- it’s an event built on promise and promise alone. And yet, the NFL has turned it into a massive, if unlikely, extravaganza. It means hundreds of millions of dollars for the host city. And, of course, it will be our baby here in the motor city next year.
A delegation from Detroit was in Kansas City to do their homework on what it takes to make the most of the opportunity. We checked in with Antoine Bryant, the city’s planning director, on what he saw, what he’s bringing back, and what he hopes to do better.
Read: Discovering unexpected perks of hosting NFL Draft ahead of event in Detroit
From our studios here Downtown, we have had a front-row seat on the changes in Corktown surrounding the rebirth of the Michigan Central Station. And last week, the first part of the campus opened.
An innovation incubator called Newlab opened in the old Book Depository building, and it’s already got almost three dozen tenants who’ve poured into Detroit from all over. It tees up the opening of the old train station next year.
Related: Restored Detroit Book Depository building opens in Ford’s developing Michigan Central hub
But from the coming road through Corktown that will charge electric vehicles as they roll to the dreams that will take flight from the companies that will line Michigan Avenue, it’s taking shape just as Bill Ford Jr. believed it would. We discussed that with him on Flashpoint.
You can view the April 30, 2023, episode of Flashpoint in the video player above.