Blackhawks Chair Rocky Wirtz has been "getting the job done ... since taking over a moribund" franchise in October '07, according to a Q&A by Mike Spellman of the Chicago DAILY HERALD. Below are excerpts from the interview:
Q: Do you ever sit back and go, you know what? I am a pretty good owner?
Wirtz: I don't know about that (laughs). The best compliment I could get is that when you turn this over to the next generation of the Wirtz family, you're going to leave them something in better shape than you got it in.
Q: If money and logistics weren't an issue, where would you hold your dream Winter Classic?
Wirtz: I think either at Notre Dame or in Green Bay. Notre Dame would be good because we have training camp there, and it's just neat and you get a lot of people. And obviously, wherever you play, if you play the Red Wings, it would be ideal. (Smiles).
Q: The NHL's arrow seems to be pointing up. What needs to be done to keep it that way?
Wirtz: We're exposing more people to the game all the time. Attendance is going up. Both the Winter Classic and the Stadium Series are doing well. In Canada with the Rogers TV deal, that will help because they'll get a lot of exposure and it will give U.S. television something to really look forward to innovation-wise. I think television is going to be a big part of this.
Q: A few years ago the team was cranking, the [United Center] was always full, and yet you said the team wasn't making money. How is that going now?
Wirtz: We're close. It's something [Blackhawks President & CEO] John McDonough cringes over, but we're getting closer all the time. At the time I said that, we had the second-lowest ticket prices in the league. It's something we've had to be very careful about; we take ticket prices very seriously. ... What most fans don't realize is every round you advance, the league takes so much of a percentage of those playoff tickets. It's not like the days of old where you kept 100 percent of your own gate (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 12/18).
