“These are tough economic times”.

As a Detroit native, this can’t be said enough times. Nary a day goes by where a friend isn’t laid off or a co-worker has to move for a better opportunity.

One of the first things that people like to cut back on I’ve always learned is the luxuries. The movies, vacations, and sporting events.

Recently, the Pistons sent out an email urging people to buy seats for as cheap as $5 in the upper bowl. The Lions tried to give some military guys from a nearby base $10 tickets for Thanksgiving.

They were appalled to learn that those same tickets showed up on Ebay the same day.

The Red Wings haven’t sold out in God knows how long. Somehow a $100 ticket to watch a regular season hockey game just doesn’t seem justifiable.

Which brings us to the Detroit Ignition. A extreme league indoor soccer team. And a team and organization that obviously has smart people in their marketing department. Knowing full well they can’t compete with the big boys, they offer something a tad different.

Scantily clad women.

Now, this isn’t to say that the Pistons aren’t infamous for this. In fact, I can bet that a number of males between 25-54 only go to the games to see the Dance Team.

But the Lions have refused to get cheerleaders and the NHL really hasn’t adopted the cheerleading/dance team phenomenon. And baseball, well, forget about it.

So, if given the chance, are you going to pay $150 bucks to watch a crappy Lions team or $10 bucks to see bad indoor soccer and hot women.

For me, economics dictate the latter. I think you’ll agree after seeing pictures from the Detroit Ignition Dance Team launch party.