The USA Today article—linked here—“They Control Everything: How the Dallas Stars Monopolized Texas Youth Hockey” may be lengthy, but it is a stunning rebuke of the methods the Stars organization is allegedly using to bully and intimidate minor hockey organizations, their personnel, and hockey-playing families across the state—all in the name of increased profits for the hockey club.
Here are just a few excerpts from the article, written by Ken Jacoby:
- Unlike the NFL, NBA and MLB, a handful of NHL teams are intimately involved in running the youth levels of their sports in their regions – perhaps none more than the Stars. In Dallas, the Stars spent decades turning what was once seen as a community good into a lucrative arm of their for-profit enterprise.
- By monopolizing the ice, the Stars effectively control the pathways by which young players advance to the sport’s highest stages. Knowing most local hockey families have nowhere else to go, the Stars impose their will by reminding parents that they can block the pathway for any kid. The Stars regularly raise prices on their services while diminishing their quality. They repeatedly retaliate against people they perceive as threats—from coaches who defect to other rinks to parents who criticize them on Facebook. By stacking the regional USA Hockey governing body that regulates the sport with their own executives, the Stars all but ensured no one would stand in their way.
- USA TODAY spoke to more than 100 hockey parents, coaches, players, business owners, and current and former Stars employees, and reviewed hundreds of pages of property records, business filings, contracts, tax returns, court records, emails, and internal documents. Together, they reveal how the Stars bullied a community on their path to profiting off a youth sport.
Yes, there are two sides to every story. But anyone who reads the entire article would readily agree: the supporting evidence is overwhelming. If nothing else, the Stars have some explaining to do—and the NHL needs to give this mess a serious look. A real serious one.
