United Center

This guide to the United Center in Chicago starts with a strange arithmetic: for years, watching the Blackhawks play at home meant paying for a channel, not a ticket. It traces the decision behind that rule to Bill Wirtz, the team's longtime owner, nicknamed Dollar Bill, and the pay-TV service he built rather than sell broadcast rights to a network. You'll hear about fans nearby crowding into bars to catch a signal from out of town during the decades the blackout held. Listen for how the arena's own crowd noise carried further than the games it was calling.