Red Wings, Tigers owner Ilitch dies
Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, who founded the Little Caesars Pizza empire, died Friday. He was 87. Ilitch and his wife opened their first Little Caesars restaurant in suburban Detroit in 1959, and the business eventually grew into the world’s largest carry-out pizza chain. Ilitch paid a reported US$8 million for the Detroit Red Wings 1982 and the team won four Stanley Cups under his ownership. A decade later, Ilitch paid $85 million for the Detroit Tigers and began pumping money into player salaries. The Tigers advanced to the World Series in 2006, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.