Although the Blackhawks have sold out 227 consecutive games at the United Center (regular-season and playoffs), Wirtz maintained that the Blackhawks are still not profitable, though things have improved since he took ownership in 2007.
“Maybe in two or three years,” he said of profitability, “especially if our sponsorship sales continue to increase."
So Rocky's family has owned the Blackhawks for almost 70 years, and three generations. They're still paying off that mortgage, evidently, and can't wait to be free and clear of those monthly payments. Get some room to breathe...
He shares ownership of his arena with the owner of the Bulls, which is nice, since he can split the costs of these money pits that can only feasibly be built and operated with massive injections of public money. How are you going to make money selling $9.00 beers to 20 000 fans 50 times a year? Especially if the liquor distributor is robbing you blind?
So he can't quite manage to eke out a profit. Soon, possibly.
Maybe if he got a better local TV deal his team would fare better, but there's six more years on the current one to go still. Until then, the owners of the consortium of Comcast Chicago will have him over a barrel and make millions off his team. That's not fair to him, that those leeches, namely Tom Ricketts, Jerry Reinsdorf, NBC Universal, and, uh, Rocky Wirtz, are stealing from him, shrinking the amount of hockey related revenue he can generate and throw on the pile to be shared equally (50-50, fair's fair) with the players.
Good thing we had a lockout to bring those insane player salaries in line, now Rocky has a decent chance to earn a living. It's not plutolatry to root for a man whose declared personal wealth comes in at half a billion dollars. He's just like us, a lowly bachelor of communications grad who earned everything he has.
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