The Seals had never been able to find success either on the ice or at the box office, and after plans for a proposed new arena in San Francisco were cancelled in 1976, he convinced majority owner Mel Swig to relocate the franchise from Oakland to the Gunds' hometown in June of that year.
It initially paid off, and the Barons knocked off three of the NHL's top teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres in consecutive games in January 1978.
At the end of the 1977–78 season, plans to buy the Coliseum outright fell through, and the Barons' small crowds and continuing struggles placed the franchise's viability in serious doubt.
Since Minnesota was perceived as the more desirable hockey market at the time, NHL President John Ziegler oversaw a merger between the two franchises, with the Gunds assuming ownership of the North Stars.
Within three seasons, the North Stars would make the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals, thanks to the Gunds' willingness to invest in the team and the addition of a number of talented players, including goaltender Gilles Meloche, from the Barons' roster.
By 1990, the Gunds had decided on a plan to relocate the franchise to the San Francisco Bay Area, the market they had vacated some 14 years earlier.
With the opening of the San Jose Arena in 1993, however, the Gunds would be able to spend more on the team, and they made waves throughout the NHL with high-profile first-round upsets in the 1994 and 1995 playoffs.
In February 2002, the Gunds sold the Sharks to a consortium, named San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises (SJSE).
Stepien's Nationwide Advertising Service Inc. and new cable television station Sports Exchange were also part of the sale.
The league also arranged for the Gunds to pay a cash sum for a first-round selection in each of the subsequent four NBA drafts to recover the ones traded away by Stepien.
[7] Under the Gunds' ownership, attendance figures started to rise, and the Cavs enjoyed a period of competitiveness on the basketball court.
In 2005, Gund sold controlling interest of the team to Quicken Loans founder and billionaire Dan Gilbert, maintaining a minority ownership stake for himself.
His father George Gund II was president and chairman of Cleveland Trust when it was Ohio's largest bank.
[17][18][19] Gordon Gund attended Harvard University, where he majored in physical sciences and sociology and played ice hockey.