After school, he worked as a commercial leasing broker with fellow graduate
Arthur Rubloff. In 1929, he partnered with grain trader and real estate investor,
James E. Norris, who was impressed with how Wirtz handled one of his real estate transactions. During the
Great Depression, the Wirtz-Norris partnership began to purchase arenas at much reduced prices. In 1933, they purchased the
Olympia Stadium in
Detroit,
Michigan and its hockey franchise, the Detroit Falcons, which they renamed the
Detroit Red Wings for $100,000. In 1935, they purchased the Chicago Stadium. Wirtz was able to fill his stadiums after securing and booking the Hollywood Ice Revue produced by and starring Olympic ice skating champion
Sonja Henie. He used the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on the Chicago Stadium and also purchase
Madison Square Garden in
New York City and the
St. Louis Arena. In 1946, he and
James D. Norris helped
Bill Tobin purchase the nearly bankrupt Chicago Blackhawks. Wirtz continued to help run the Red Wings. In the summer of 1951, Arthur Wirtz left Detroit to join the (Chicago) board of directors. In 1949, he and Jim Norris (the son of James) founded the International Boxing Club which presided over 47 of 51 championships through 1955. As Wirtz and Norris had control over most of the major sporting venues east of the Mississippi, federal authorities ended their boxing monopoly in 1958 and forced them to sell Madison Square Garden. In 1972, he partnered with
Lester Crown from team founder
Dick Klein and purchased a controlling stake in the Chicago Bulls In 1974, he lost a lawsuit brought by Milwaukee real estate magnate
Marvin Fishman accusing him of illegally preventing Fishman's purchase of the Bulls. Wirtz was an important showbiz figure with his presentation of the
Sonja Henie Ice Show, which toured arenas for many years. He was also involved with the Henie-produced ice shows which played the
Center Theatre at
Rockefeller Center in New York for several seasons. Wirtz took over the ownership of
Ice Follies and
Holiday on Ice, which he later sold to Irvin and
Kenneth Feld. ==Honors==