Save the Caps

It's hard to blame some Capitals fans for taking the whole experience for granted. They have been spoiled for much of the last decade by a perennial Stanley Cup contender that is led by one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history (Alex Ovechkin) and one of the best playmakers of his generation (Nicklas Backstrom).

Their favorite hockey team has built a home sellout streak north of 360 consecutive games. All but one of those home games have been played at a privately funded arena in a once desolate but now vibrant part of downtown Washington, D.C. The other home game over that stretch was staged before a capacity crowd of 42,832 at Nationals Park, where the Capitals — during their 40-anniversary season — hosted one of the NHL's marquee events at the 2015 Bridgestone Winter Classic.

Washington has become a desirable destination for free agents and one of the NHL's most successful U.S. markets. For the modern-day Capitals fan, this is normal. In some cases, it's all they know.

But during the early 1980s, the whole thing would have seemed like a pipe dream.

In fact, if not for a series of events in the summer of 1982, none of it would have been possible. Back then, the Capitals were essentially on life support, a miserable team on the ice with eight consecutive losing seasons since its inception and a struggling club off the ice, with more than $20 million in losses, according to owner Abe Pollin.

In their first eight years, the Capitals went through eight coaches, three general managers, and five captains. They missed the playoffs in each of those eight seasons, the last three of which saw 16 of 21 teams qualify.

Attendance was also thin at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, where the Capitals averaged 10,726 fans during their first eight years (59 percent capacity). Of their first 320 home games, only 19 were sellouts.

"The Capitals to date have been the major disappointment and the major failure of my business career," Pollin told the Washington Post in November 1981.

According to Pollin, the team couldn't survive for much longer. So, in conjunction with the NHL, he looked at his long-term options during the 1981–82 season. Relocating and folding the franchise were real possibilities, as was merging (and relocating) with an existing club.

Perhaps following the lead of the Atlanta Flames, who moved to Calgary in 1980, Pollin scheduled a meeting with government officials in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in June 1982. The meeting was cancelled at the last minute, though, and never rescheduled.

"I take full responsibility for the sorry state of the Washington Capitals to date, and I underline to date," Pollin said. "It has not been for lack of commitment, lack of effort, or lack of pouring bucks into the team, many millions of bucks."

On July 20, 1982, Pollin revealed four conditions that had to be met to ensure the club's viability in Washington.

The criteria included the sale of at least 7,500 season tickets for the 1982–83 season, complete sellouts for the first 10 home games, a reduction in the Capitals' rent to the Capital Centre from 15 percent to 10 percent, and a reduction of the Prince George's County entertainment tax.

Pollin wanted the PG County amusement tax reduced from 10 percent to one-half of one percent over the next three years.

If the conditions could be met within 30 days, Pollin had a group of investors on standby that would purchase a share of the team and help keep it in Washington. Dick Patrick, who has remained with the organization for more than three decades, was among those investors.

"The challenge is laid down to all segments of...