Quote:
Originally Posted by Martini
Proof?
Um, in the 80/90's when the Hawks were selling out the stadium? Different time and Wirtz was well in his right to protect his STH's. It was his team, he never cried poor, and last time I checked, built a huge arena without asking for help
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He did ask for help but from the private sector. He/they still used other people's money because it would have been very unlikely to get public financing because of the recession when they wanted to build. He was a sound businessman. He cried poor almost every year of his ownership. He claimed he lost 100 million on the team the last decade too.
The Hawks don't lose money, the only post losses according to the formulas franchises are bound too. No way in hell does a family retain ownership of the asset for so many decades if it was hemorrhaging money as the last two Wirtz claim. No way do they build a new stadium without public financing either. Chicago is a cash cow, it doesn't take much more than a marginally committed owner to do well in the market.
WWW did not run the business well, otherwise ticket prices would have been less than half of the comparable franchises. The radio rights were pretty much worthless too the last 10 years. I can't imagine how poor the corporate support was from 2003 until Rocky came into the show.