However, fans in Denver had been expecting a National Hockey League team after Spurs owner Ivan Mullenix won a conditional NHL expansion franchise to begin play in 1976-77, only to see those plans fizzle out.
The Spurs were plagued by financial difficulties and poor attendance (fewer than 3,000 per game), widely attributed to the Denver fanbase rejecting the WHA as a major league.
The team unofficially folded in December when Mullenix wanted out, and the league stepped in to broker a deal with an Ottawa group called the Founders Club.
While the Spurs were on a road trip in January 1976, the team was quietly moved to Ottawa without even a press release and renamed the Civics.
Major league hockey would ultimately return to Ottawa when the reborn Senators joined the NHL as an expansion team in the 1992-93 season.