More on the Stars’ move to Plano.
Today, Sean Shapiro writes about the Stars’ decision to pull up stakes and move to Plano when their lease runs out at the AAC in 2031. “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,” he writes.
Dallas leaders clearly hope for whatever the hockey equivalent of a Hail Mary is to convince the team to stay in Dallas. Shortly after the Stars announced the move, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert stressed it was a “non-binding letter of intent related to a potential arena project in Plano.” The city and the team “will continue conversations with the organization and work collaboratively to ensure the Stars remain playing in Dallas,” she says.
Sean talked to NHL insiders about why the move to Plano likely made business sense. “It’s kind of a business-versus-optics thing here, right? Do you need to be in Dallas to be the Dallas Stars?” one former NHL owner told him. “From a business side, you don’t.”
Read it below.