 The Sabres, along with the Vancouver Canucks, joined the NHL in the 1970–71 season.Their first owners were Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox, scions of a family long prominent in Western New York and grandsons of the co-founders of the Woolworth's variety store chain; along with Robert O. Swados, a Buffalo attorney.On the team's inaugural board of directors were Robert E. Rich, Jr., later the owner of the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team; and George W. Strawbridge, Jr., an heir to the Campbell Soup Company fortune.