MLive article on DeVos family property donation completely omits the real motives of the most powerful family in West Michigan

The headline from a February 14 article on MLive reads, DeVos family donates land eyed for Grand Rapids soccer stadium. 

The MLive article states that Dan and Pamela DeVos donated the property to the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA) with the intent that that land might be used as part of the land that will be necessary to construct a soccer stadium in Grand Rapids. 

The only source cited in this article was DeVos family spokesperson Nick Wasmiller. One of the quotes from Wasmiller states: 

“This donation is the next step in advancing exploration of such a use. Having the location be the potential home for a downtown soccer stadium is exciting, and Dan and Pamella are eager to see the results of future due diligence determining if such a vision can become a reality.”

There are several things that the MLive article omitted, which I believe most people would find useful, such as:

The Downtown Development Authority, which received the property donation from the DeVos family, has a 9 member Board of Directors. Of those 9, two are direct DeVos family operatives – Richard Winn, the DDA Board Chair, who is with ACH Hospitality, a chain of hotels that the DeVos family owns; and Greg McNeilly, with the Windquest Group, which is run by Dick and Betsy DeVos.

The MLive article quotes the DeVos family spokesperson as saying, “Dan and Pamella DeVos acquired this property because they believed it held tremendous potential for a future community use benefitting West Michigan residents, employees and visitors.” However, they failed to mentioned that the property in question was purchased in the fall of 2022, at the exact same time that Grand Action 2.0 first began to propose a soccer stadium for Grand Rapids.

It is mentioned that there are public and private partners involved in the soccer stadium proposal, like the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority, but the MLive article also omits the fact that the DeVos family has an operative who sits on that Board. Richard Winn, the President of ACH Hospitality, a DeVos-owned hotel consortium. Notice that Richard Winn sits on the board of the DDA and the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority. Winn, like most DeVos family operatives are on these committees or serve as Board of Directors, not only so they can influence outcomes, but because these development projects will assist the DeVos family to increase their profits and the wealth. More people coming to the downtown for a soccer match or the amphitheater, will be more likely to spend the night in one of the DeVos hotels in downtown GR.

The last major omission in the MLive article, has to do with the fact that the donated property from Dan DeVos to the DDA, will make it easier for him to own the soccer team that the new soccer stadium will be home to. Dan DeVos is the chairman of the NBA team, the Orlando Magic, is co-owner of the Grand Rapids Griffins and was owner of the now defunct arena football team, the Grand Rapids Rampage. I’ll wager money that Dan DeVos will be involved in the ownership of the newly former soccer team, once the city/county has given the green light to use public funds for the new soccer stadium. 

In the end, it would have been more honest if MLive had made these connection or at least raised the points I have listed above. Had they done so, their headline could have read, DeVos family donates land eyed for Grand Rapids soccer stadium….NO SHIT!