It\u2019s a jarring move, albeit not a surprising one given the recent developments between the Stars, the city of Dallas, and the Mavericks. As a refresher, the Stars and Mavericks have long been on a path toward divorce, partly because NBA and NHL teams are increasingly moving out of shared arenas and partly because this particular NBA team sued that particular NHL team in October seeking control of the American Airlines Center. The Stars countersued, and the city of Dallas chose sides<\/a>, picking the Mavericks. (A court eventually ruled in the Mavericks\u2019 favor, although the Stars are appealing.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Given all that, it felt inevitable that the Stars would move out of Dallas. But the foundation for a move north was laid long before any legal wrangling got underway.<\/p>\n A significant part of the Stars\u2019 success in North Texas, and by extension, hockey\u2019s success in North Texas, lies in the team building and maintaining of local rinks. The Stars own and operate eight StarCenters within North Texas; none of those rinks are in Dallas, and six of the eight are north of 635. If you draw a map connecting those northern StarCenters\u2014Valley Ranch, Farmers Branch, Richardson, Frisco, McKinney, and Plano\u2014the proposed arena project falls right in the middle.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the uncomfortable, unavoidable realities about hockey\u2019s growth in Texas. This is one of the most expensive youth sports around, so economically speaking, it makes sense to build where the wealth is going<\/a>. But because the Stars effectively built a huge amount of the hockey culture<\/a> we see today in North Texas, the trickledown effect is while the team always played its games in Dallas, so much of its fanbase resided outside the city. According to multiple sources, the Stars\u2019 season-ticketholder base has already largely shifted to the northern suburbs. While there will be some churn leaving Dallas, the Stars are confident internally that they\u2019ll pick up more season-ticket holders from the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another, more obvious reality is the move will put the Stars on much better financial footing. The team isn\u2019t hurting in Dallas; as of November, the Stars ranked 11th in NHL revenue according to CNBC<\/a>, and were the league\u2019s 14th most valuable franchise at $2.05 billion. But the NHL has made a push in recent years for NHL franchises to act less like hockey teams than corporate entities with a hockey team involved. It matters quite a bit, then, that neither they nor the Mavericks own the land around the American Airlines Center. Plano\u2019s proposal remedies that, and that\u2019s before considering how Stars owner Tom Gaglardi, a hotelier by trade, might add to his portfolio alongside the new rink.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a business dream, honestly,\u201d another NHL team president tells D. \u201cYou get to control the venue, you get to control the surrounding area, and you get to make money 365 days a year on that space. Between that and some of the corporate entities based in that area, the Stars could easily be a top-10 revenue team.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sean-Shapiro-150x150.jpg\")
Sean Shapiro