Quote:
Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop
St. Louis was awarded a NHL expansion team despite not having an ownership group. Bill Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Stadium also owned the arena in St. Louis, which was in a state of disrepair. He thought he could pawn off the arena to the eventual owner.
As such, St. Louis were the only one of the six 1967 expansion franchises to be conditional. The City of Baltimore, MD was waiting in the wings if the St. Louis deal fell through.
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Correction: it was James D. Norris who was majority owner the St. Louis Arena, who arranged for awarding an expansion team to St. Louis in 1966 even though no ownership group was put forward. Norris and Bill Wirtz's father Arthur co-owned the Black Hawks, as well as their Central Hockey League affiliate the St. Louis Braves. Norris, his half-brother Bruce (who owned the Red Wings) and minority partner Wirtz owned the aforementioned St. Louis Arena, Chicago Stadium, the Olympia in Detroit, the Indianapolis Coliseum, and Madison Square Garden. (The latter of which gave them
de facto control over the Rangers too.)
James D. Norris isn't remembered for his role in this scheme because he died of a heart attack only two weeks after the expansion was announced in 1966. Wirtz bought out the Norrises' shares in the Black Hawks, Chicago Stadium, and ultimately arranged for the sale of the St. Louis Arena and the conditional NHL franchise to a consortium fronted by Sid Salomon Jr. and Sid Salomon III.
Bill Wirtz was officially brought into the 'fold' of the Black Hawks business after Norris's death, his father making him president in 1966. Over the course of the '70s Arthur slowly transitioned more and more of the daily management of the Wirtz family business to Bill, until Arthur died in 1983.