In 1919, Livingstone won a $20,000 judgement against the Arena Company, which promptly declared bankruptcy to avoid paying. General manager Charlie Querrie learned that the Arena Company wanted to sell. As an interim measure, Querrie changed the team name to the Tecumsehs on December 7, 1919, the name of a previous Toronto franchise in the NHA. The following day, Querrie reached agreement with the owners of the amateur St. Patrick's club of the Ontario Hockey Association to purchase the franchise, allowing him to maintain an ownership stake in the team. The NHL approved the sale on 13 December 1919. The group paid $5,000 to the NHL for the franchise. While the money was to go to Livingstone to compensate him for the loss of his NHA club, Livingstone never received the money. By all accounts, Calder pocketed the money himself. The incorporation date of the club was December 22, 1919. Querrie, Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, and Paul Ciceri owned 99 shares each, while Richard Greer owned 4 shares. The new owners renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks (or St. Pats for short), and changed the team's colours from blue to green.
