Here's how you turn a franchise around...

Most people know how Rocky Wirtz and John McDonough have completely rebuilt the Chicago Blackhawks but this story also shows what a truly awful state the franchise was in after Bill Wirtz's death.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60196

After the first interview, McDonough gave Wirtz some advice:

“Whoever you have come in to run your business operation, they have to come in with the mind-set that they’re going to be 0 and 82,” McDonough said. “Anybody that comes and tells you that you’re not drawing because the team’s bad, you let that person go the day they tell you that.”

This is a stunning business story.

 

pretty solid piece... Rocky Wirtz is nothing like his father...

 

Certainly. Rocky has the Blackhawks in the 1950s, what, with the games on TV.

 

Too many owners act as if it's the fans' responsibility to buy tickets. Bill Wirtz was probably the worst of them. The no-broadcast policy was about the stupidest thing possible, effectively restricting your fan base to the hard-core diehards who hold season tickets, and for all intents and purposes, killing a couple generations of fans.

Rocky Wirtz is obviously a disciple of Bill Veeck, who knew above everything else that an owner should work his ass off to get fans in the seats, create a buzz off the field of play, and give the public the impression you want them to have fun. Just throwing the doors open isn't good enough.

There's no reason Chicago shouldn't be a powerhouse franchise in the NHL. It'll take a couple of seasons for the team to really get good, but if they do, the city will go nuts over hockey in the wintertime.