Dallas Stars built America’s best youth hockey model; it has missed Fort Worth | Opinion
The Dallas Stars will return to Fort Worth, with the plan to host an NHL game at Dickies Arena.
The team held training camp at the Fort Worth Convention Center in 2014, and wanted to return in ‘15. Convention center officials told the Stars no.
“They couldn’t build the ice,” Stars president Brad Alberts said in a phone interview.
Typically that’s a problem for a hockey team.
With the completion of Dickies Arena, the building management and the Stars have discussed pairing up for a return.
“We loved having training camp there and we’d like to do it again with the idea of finishing (camp) with a preseason game at Dickies Arena,” Alberts said.
This could happen as early as the fall of 2021, but ... COVID continues to make planning a pain.
As the team has expanded its footprint all over North Texas by building StarCenter hockey rinks, the one region of DFW the team has not penetrated is its sister city to the west.
The Stars have built the best grass roots model in the NHL in non-traditional markets, to the point where they will host the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Men’s World Championship; the event will run in Frisco and Plano from April 26 to May 6.
Since moving from Minnesota to Texas in 1993, the Stars have built the sport of hockey in Texas, and much of the lower part of the United States.
The Stars’ move to Texas unlocked the hockey potential in other communities from North Carolina to Florida to Tennessee, and Arizona.
Despite all of this growth, the Fort Worth community has seen almost none of it.
It’s a chicken and egg problem. The Stars have not invested heavily in Fort Worth because the numbers don’t say it’s worth it. When the Stars review who supports their team and where they come from, it’s not Fort Worth.
Is it not worth it because the Stars don’t invest in Fort Worth?
The Stars now have 16 sheets of ice available in eight rinks in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Richardson, Valley Ranch, Farmers Branch, Euless and the newest building in Mansfield.
“We still don’t have enough,” Alberts said. “We have adult beer league hockey games starting at midnight.”
There remains no ice time in Fort Worth. If you live in Fort Worth, you’re driving at least 30 minutes to play a hockey game, that’s assuming you can schedule a time.
It’s hard to grow the sport around youth leagues when you can’t play the game. Ice time will forever remain the single biggest problem in hockey’s growth in the lower part of the U.S.
“It’s where the population base is going, so Fort Worth would be a good one,” Alberts said. “That is a market we’ve talked about a lot to get over there.”
But ...
Fort Worth is the 13th largest city in the United States, and easily the biggest in America without a pro sports franchise. The city often functions like a small town, which is part of its charm and allure.
The small town appeal is wonderful, right up until the time you want the amenities offered by other large cities, like a Dallas. In this case, an amenity like a hockey rink.
For the Stars to build a new facility requires a partnership with the city. The city offers up a parcel of land, and the team kicks in about $16 million.
“We’ve looked into going north to Denton or Prosper; there is growth that way,” Alberts said. “When we had the Winter Classic, we looked into maybe doing South Dallas.”
The city of Fort Worth has discussed building a youth baseball facility with the Texas Rangers, similar to the one built in the western part of Dallas.
There is room here, and there has been interest.
What there has not been is action.
Whether it’s the NHL’s Texas born players such as Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman, the arrival of the IIHF World Juniors, or the existence of dozens of youth hockey teams in the Dallas area, the Stars built the sport in Texas.
It would be nice if Fort Worth was a part of it.
