Detroit Convention Center Erases Name of Tarnished Ex-Mayor Cobo
Detroit’s Cobo Center, which hosted a variety of major events, is changing its name. The naming rights will bring about $1.5 million annually. Many officials maintain they no longer want to honor former Detroit Mayor Cobo because they say he was racist.
Detroit’s iconic Cobo Center is getting a new name.
The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority sold the rights to name the center to Chemical Bank, which is merging with TCF Financial Corporation.
The naming rights will cost the bank about $1.5 million annually for the next 22 years.
And whether it eventually becomes the TCF Center or the Chemical Bank Center, the Authority wants the name “Cobo” erased.
Many officials say former Detroit Mayor Albert Cobo is known now for racial discrimination.
Detroit journalist and historian Ken Coleman tells WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter that Cobo’s razing of the city’s Black Bottom neighborhood targeted African Americans.
