Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said he feels “pretty confident that two buildings can both thrive” in the Dallas/Fort Worth area if the Mavericks build a basketball-only arena, according to Lia Assimakopoulos of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Currently, the Stars and Mavs “split the revenue from third-party events.” But Gagliardi said that he “isn’t too concerned about how a split could impact his revenue in the future.” He said if business is split “equally” between two arenas, “then you’re as well off as you were” if teams were already sharing the revenue from one venue. He is also “hopeful that there’d be more opportunities for weekend concert dates during the season” if only one team plays in the building. Stars President & CEO Brad Alberts had previously said that it was the Stars’ priority to “renegotiate the lease at AAC to remain there as a single tenant after 2031.” Gaglardi “reinforced” that position, saying, “I believe the AAC has a bright future. I always thought that we would be playing there post-2031.” The Stars are “still a ways away from settling final plans for their future.” Gaglardi “expressed a message of gratitude, that his team at least has time to plan for what comes next.” Gaglardi: “To have six years of runway to know where they’re going to be gives us lots of time to figure out where we’re going to be” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/21).
VICTORY+ SUCCESS: Gaglardi said he does not “think there’s any question” streaming games to fans for free on Victory+ is “going to be viable.” Gaglardi: “If you look at the eyeballs that are watching the games already, there’s simple metrics. You know what those are worth. We have more eyeballs today than we did under the RSN.” Gaglardi said the Texas Rangers are “thrilled with Victory+.” He added, “We put the Western Hockey League onto Victory+.” Gaglardi noted the “next step is going to be getting advertisers to advertise on that medium. Once you prove the eyeballs are there, we know what the eyeballs are worth, to an advertiser, it’s a digital buy” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/21).
CUTTING TIES: Gaglardi confirmed the team “cut ties with three employees after learning they had profited off hotel bookings for the team’s youth tournaments.” Assimakopoulos in a separate piece wrote that a USA Today investigation found that Damon Boettcher, Lucas Reid and Brad Buckland, three employees responsible for overseeing the StarsCenter facilities and the team’s youth programs, had “organized dozens of youth hockey tournaments on the franchise’s behalf over the years that required out-of-town participants to book rooms for a minimum number of nights at select hotels.” In the report, the employees were “also running a company called Stay2Play LLC that acted as the middleman between the Stars and the hotels,” which was “taking a cut of the revenue and creating a conflict of interest” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/21).
