Before Investing $500 Million Into The XFL, Vince McMahon Was Once A Hockey Guy & Team Owner

People forget….long before Vince McMahon was investing $500 million into the XFL, he was investing in professional hockey teams. The year was 1981 and Vince was fresh off buying the beautiful Cape Cod Coliseum in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The arena was a 7,200 seat, multi-purpose arena and was what some would call a staple in the New England music scene welcoming bands like Aerosmith and Black Sabbath. The arena, which is currently a warehouse for the Christmas Tree Shop, would also be the future home to the Cape Cod Buccaneers, the new professional ice hockey team that played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League owned by Vince McMahon.

McMahon originally wanted an AHL team, but once plans feel through to bring the American Hockey League to the Cape, Vince opted for the new inaugural ACHL, which operated from 1981-1987. In the inaugural season, big Vince was not happy with how the league was being run (surprise, surprise). Two teams, the Fitchburg Trappers and the Schenectady Chiefs both folded less than 10 games into the season. Leaving the 6-team league now down to 4 teams. This obviously really pissed off Vince, who then tried to take out a loan with the league for 15k due to the fact they weren’t making any money. The league decided to deny the loan as well as end the season and start the playoffs early.

Ending the season early along with a denied loan from the league did not sit well with McMahon, obviously, so he then decided to fold the Buccaneers. In their one and only season, the team went 17-21-1. McMahon would leave hockey for good and take his coach, Jim Troy with him back to Wrestling.

The real story to pull from all of this, is how much better would the NHL be doing if they had Vince McMahon? Is he exactly what the NHL needs? The guy is a marketing genius and the one thing the NHL sucks at is marketing the players. I can picture it now…..BAH GAWD THAT’S THE BIZ NASTY MUSIC.

Gary Bettman was announced this week as one of the new Hockey Hall of Fame inductees as a builder for the game. Imagine if big Vince had Bettman’s job from day 1? The outdoors network tv deal? Ya, he would of just started the NHL network right then and there. No way he would put his product on that trash.

It is pretty crazy too, his closest ties were with the Bruins. He wanted to be the Bruins AHL affiliate on the Cape. It would only be a matter of time before he’d take over the entire Bruins franchise, then the entire NHL.

So before we go calling Vince a football guy now that he is putting half a billion dollars towards a new football league, let’s not forget that Vince was originally a hockey guy. And once a hockey guy, always a hockey guy.