The Breakaway tells the history full history of the Blackhawks - both from a sports and business perspective. It is a very enjoyable read - even for someone like me who is not a hockey fan.

It tells an incredible business story - and gives a clear picture behind the curtain of a famous family run sports team.

Smith is clearly a very talented writer who keeps the reader engaged from the very beginning. It's a fine addition to any sports or business book collection.

(I intend to post a fuller review to my blog in due course - https://allsportsbooks.reviews)

THE BREAKAWAY by Bryan Smith is subtitled "The Inside Story of the Wirtz Family Business and the Chicago Blackhawks" and would undoubtedly be of interest to our students since plenty of Blackhawks paraphernalia is in evidence during the hockey season. There is no doubt that Rocky Wirtz has revitalized interest in the Blackhawks and Smith (who also writes for Chicago magazine and Men's Health) blends both business and sports perspective in telling this story. Unfortunately, the advance copy was archived before I was able to download it and hence my relatively neutral 3 star rating.

It seems hard to believe now, but not long before the Chicago Blackhawks put together an impressive run of three Stanley Cup championships in six years, the franchise was dreadful both on and off the ice. In 2007, the team missed the playoffs for the ninth time in ten seasons and also lost thirty million dollars that season. It was also the year that second generation owner Bill Wirtz died and when his son Rocky (short for Rockwell, his middle name) had a ceremony before the opening game of the 2007-08 season, Bill was booed loudly by the fans in attendance.

Given that backdrop, it is easy to see that Rocky turned the franchise around very quickly and that is the basis of this excellent book by Bryan Smith, a senior writer for Chicago and Men’s Health magazines. Not only are Bill and Rocky portrayed in the book, but the man who started the Wirtz enterprise, Arthur, is covered as well. The reader will learn much about the Wirtz men, their business acumen and their management of one of the “Original Six” NHL franchises.

While a very fair and balanced account, this book does not paint a pretty picture of the Wirtz family. Their idiosyncrasies and refusal to change long-held traditions are explored in depth and how some of them led to the dire straits the Blackhawks found themselves in. One of the most famous examples of this was the long-standing Wirtz policy of refusing to televise home Blackhawk games, fearing it would keep fans away from the arena. When Rocky ended the long-standing policy in his first year of running the team, the cheers were as loud as any that came when the team won the Stanley Cup.

This is not to say everything written and said about Arthur and Bill Wirtz was negative. Indeed, Arthur oversaw a team that had superstars such as Bobby Hull, Pierre Pilote and Stan Mikita. Their Stanley Cup championship in 1961 was thought to be the first of several for the team, but their misfortunes came soon thereafter. When Bobby Hull left the Blackhawks to sign with the Winnipeg Jets of the new World Hockey Association in 1972, it was the low point for Arthur’s tenure. Bill Wirtz took over upon Arthur’s death in 1983 and because of his fierce loyalty to his father, he refused to change much. This led to the decline of the franchise and also led to some very negative press.

Rocky’s tenure was marked not only by the rapid rise of the franchise, but also some interesting family dynamics with his siblings. The story of his brother Peter is very interesting reading as is some of the smaller changes made as well as the bigger ones. One very interesting tale is when Rocky moved into Arthur’s old office after Bill refused to use it or remove anything from it, treating it like a shrine. Rocky decided that it was time for the office to be changed and utilized, a symbol of his plans for the Blackhawks.
This is an excellent book for readers who are Blackhawks fans, who enjoy reading about sports management or who want to learn more about the Wirtz family.

I wish to thank Northwestern University Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You don't have to be too old to remember when the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League were a bad team all the time. After all, it only dates back 11 years.

Back in 2007, the Blackhawks were quite dreary. They had missed the playoffs for the previous four years and in eight of the nine previous seasons. Attendance was awful, and apathy reigned supreme.

Contrast that to where the team is in 2018. OK, the Hawks missed the playoffs this year for the first time in a decade. But in between, they won three Stanley Cups - including a win in 2010 that ends a drought that stretched back to 1961. The building is full, and no one can complain about the state of the team for the time being ... at least too loudly.

What happened? It's a not-overly-long story. What's more, it's well told by Chicago writer Bryan Smith in his book, "The Breakaway."

This is a hockey story to some degree, and there are lessons here about the sports business and its management. But mostly, though, this is the story of a family called Wirtz. And it's quite a tale - a fellow named Shakespeare might feel right at home with it.

Arthur Wirtz had made a fortune in the depression and bought the Blackhawks in 1946 when things weren't going so good for that franchise. He had some success with the team, and it had some stars such as Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and won that Stanley Cup in 1981. When he died in 1983, son William - who had been involved with the team for many years - officially took over. Bill was a complicated figure, and he liked to do things his way for better or for worse. The team eventually slid into mediocrity as the game changed much more quickly than he did. For example, his was the last NHL team to televise home games. Bill valued loyalty over everything, but that didn't change the dynamics of the franchise.

It took his death to do that, and that came in 2007. Bill's will included instructions that son Rocky (shortly for Rockwell, a middle name) was to take over the team. That's in spite of the fact that father and son sometimes weren't on good terms either. And that move and other business decisions. that followed split the family part to the point where some of them only communicate through lawyers now.

One surprise followed another for Rocky when he took a look around the Blackhawks - although he wasn't shocked when fans booed during a moment of silence for his dad before a game. More disturbing was that the front office was in a shambles, and the team was losing something like $30 million per year. That sort of money was starting to take a toll on the whole financial empire.

Get the idea? Smith outlines the particulars nicely here, as Rocky was quite generous with his time in telling how the Blackhawks went from bums to champions in only three years. It's fun to read stories like the one about Rocky taking over his grandfather's office, which had been left more or less idle since Arthur died. Wirtz also allowed the author to interview several other people in the organization, which helps a lot. By the way, Rocky's brothers and sisters declined to comment for the book, perhaps not surprisingly under the circumstances.

Smith does point out that a couple of big pieces were in place for a recovery when Rocky Wirtz took control. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were already part of the organization, and they were the centerpieces for a return to glory. Another piece was when John McDonough left the top position with the Chicago Cubs to take over the business side of the Blackhawks. While it took common sense to see some of the moves needed to revive the franchise, McDonough still got all of it done in an extremely short period of time.

"The Breakaway" isn't a particularly long book, and it's easy to get a little lost following the names of family members and the various business that were part of the Wirtz empire. But the hockey material ought to be very interesting to anyone who follows sports and its management relatively closely.

I'm fond of saying that sports teams lose for a reason. That's a point that is fully illustrated here, and the story of the team's turnaround is a worthwhile one.