Friends, today is the anniversary of one of the most important dates in Calgary Flames history. On this date in 1980, Canadian business tycoon Nelson Skalbania officially announced that he had purchased the Atlanta Flames from then-owner Tom Cousins with the intention of moving the team north to Calgary.
The sale announcement – echoed by another made a couple days later in Calgary – effectively ended the tenure of the Flames in Georgia. The Atlanta club began life in 1972 as an expansion club – alongside the New York Islanders – as part of an effort to keep the growing World Hockey Association out of those two markets.