Looking Back At Bill Wirtz

[CH David]

I feel it is time that I make this thread before TM gets the idea to do it.

Now Bill Wirtz (RIP) was the owner of the Blackhawks for 41 years before he passed away back in 2007. Many of Hawks fans feel that he is the one who has caused the Stanley Cup drought, which can still be debated, with him being a cheap bastard. He was the one who was also responsible for getting rid of Jeremy Roenick, Dominik Hasek, and Ed Belfour, because you know, they didn't have great careers .

Anyway, probably the biggest thing that Bill Wirtz was known for, at least in Chicago, was that he would not televise home games. The excuse he would use every year for it was "it isn't fair to the season ticket holders". Now that is all fine and fucking dandy when the Blackhawks were selling out the games and people actually wanted to go to the games. Wait, no it isn't. Old Chicago Stadium was one of, if not the loudest, stadium in hockey, and people should have been able to see it on television if they couldn't get tickets. Add in to the fact that after Bill Wirtz got rid of Roenick and let the GM trade Chris Chelios to the Red Wings, the Hawks slipped into less than mediocrity. No one wanted to go see the Blackhawks earlier this decade. They barely managed 6,000 fans, so why not just put home games on television? Still unfair to the few season ticket holders. Idiot.

Also add to Bill Wirtz' credentials, in 2004, the Blackhawks were named the worst, yes worst franchise in sports. How the fuck do you let your team, which in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's were the hardest tickets in town to get?!?!?! They were more difficult to get than Bears tickets, and in Chicago we love our Bears, no matter how crap they are. How the fuck could he let this happen? The first 6 years, excluding 01-02, were dark times, and glorified how Bill Wirtz kept the team in the dark ages no matter what.

But Wirtz wasn't a complete douche (I apologize, he just led a dismal decade of shit and I still hurt over it sometimes). Some people considered him to be a generous man, which is in question, but a fiercely loyal man. He stood by his ship, and sank with it, even though he could have tried to help turn it around. He did establish Blackhawk Charities, which has donated millions to the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois among others. He was also voted into both the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977, and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

Discuss your thoughts on the late Bill Wirtz...

 

[Mr. TM]

Well to say he was cheap is pretty offensive to birds.

This could turn into a discussion on ad revenue quickly, which is always fun. But he did come up with an idea that might have worked in other places, not Chicago. Home games on a channel in which you had to pay a lot for it ($30/month). Now obviously, fans who want to see the games will pay the money. But there will be no new fans wanting to pay for it, there will be no casual fans paying for it, and there will be no cash strapped fans paying for it. He lost out on 30-41 3 hour slots of ad revenue, just to entice people to come out to the game. A game that was lacking in entertainment. The hawks were a horrible team, and even in their slumps, they seemed to have little answers. They are only in the last 2 years beginning to come out of it. How can you come out of it if you are collecting so little money, and trading away players who will a) bring in money but b) cost money for their skills.

Horrible Hockey mind who had too much of an ego to ever be in such a powerful position.

 

[CH David]

Exactly TM. The thing is, he didn't need to market the Blackhawks from the time he took over, until the turn of the century. Everyone knew what the Hawks would do, and the Stadium was the place to be for a game. But when he let the talent go, the team slipped, and didn't recover until they drafted Patrick Kane and brought up Jonathan Toews in 07, which was also the year he passed. You have to give the fans the ability to watch their team at home. Some teams can suck on the road, and be great at home. Who wants to see what they think is a crappy team? Wirtz just didn't get it.

I don't want to sound like a horrible person, but Bill Wirtz passing away was the best thing to happen to the franchise. Okay so I'm a horrible person. But if Wirtz is still in charge, Campbell isn't signed, the Hawks most likely don't make the Western Conference Finals last year, and just aren't the talk of the town like they are now. It is what it is.

 

[Mr. TM]

His death was the best thing to happen to the team, there is little denying that. He was from a different time, and you cannot have that in post 2004 NHL, let alone post 1997 NHL. Take a look at the Vancouver Canucks franchise, they were stuck in the rut that Chicago was stuck in five years after. But after Arthur Griffiths was forced to sell, the team began its turn around. Sometimes the cancer of a team starts at the top.