When the NHL announced that it was interested in expanding in the late 1980s, Firestone, then president of Terrace Investments, formed an organization to win an NHL franchise for Ottawa. Firestone's vision was to use the club as the centerpiece of a new commercial development to the west of the City of Ottawa. A new arena would be built, increasing land values in the surrounding area to the point where the expected franchise fee of $30 million US dollars (it would actually be $50 million) could be raised through land sales and commercial development fees and profits. Firestone's group was successful in winning a new franchise, along with the Tampa Bay Lightning, on condition that the franchise would build a new arena to NHL standards.
