WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:06.299 up an extensive historical archive to trace a 00:00:06.299 --> 00:00:10.060 truly improbable journey. Yeah, it really is. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:12.619 We are pulling all our information today from 00:00:12.619 --> 00:00:15.419 the comprehensive Wikipedia history of the Dallas 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:18.140 Stars NHL franchise. And we're sitting there 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.719 wondering why we're looking at a... ice hockey 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:24.140 team today. It's because this story goes, it 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:27.199 goes so far beyond the ice. Oh, way beyond. Right. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.920 Our mission here is to look at how a struggling 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.820 Northern team relocated to the sweltering heat 00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:35.899 of Texas, survived literal bankruptcy, sparked 00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:38.079 some of the most intense controversies in sports 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.539 history, and built this massive diehard fan culture 00:00:41.539 --> 00:00:44.460 entirely from scratch. It's honestly a masterclass 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:46.899 in business relocation. Yeah. And brand building 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:49.630 in completely untraditional markets. We really 00:00:49.630 --> 00:00:51.030 don't need to know the first thing about ice 00:00:51.030 --> 00:00:52.909 hockey to find this fascinating. What we are 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:55.729 really examining is a case study in organizational 00:00:55.729 --> 00:00:58.789 resilience. We're looking at how to sell ice 00:00:58.789 --> 00:01:01.829 in the desert. You know, how to cultivate loyalty 00:01:01.829 --> 00:01:04.310 when you have absolutely no geographical right 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:06.950 to it and how a massive financial collapse can 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:09.489 just completely alter the trajectory of a business. 00:01:09.769 --> 00:01:11.870 It's wild. Right. But to understand how they 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:13.549 ended up in Dallas, we actually have to start 00:01:13.549 --> 00:01:16.319 up north. in minnesota the state of hockey literally 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.900 the state of hockey it is so embedded in their 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.420 culture so the team's roots go back to the 1967 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:25.799 nhl expansion when they were founded as the minnesota 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.959 north stars They had some early success on the 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.700 ice, but by the mid -1970s, the franchise was 00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:34.200 dealing with severe financial problems. Really 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.480 severe. Yeah, it got so bad that in 1978, the 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:39.420 league actually allowed them to merge with another 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.120 struggling team, the Cleveland Barons. Which 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.379 is something you almost never see in modern professional 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:47.260 sports. Right. You had two failing franchises 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:49.519 merging their ownership and their rosters just 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:51.939 to keep the lights on. It really highlights how 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:54.439 fragile the economics of professional hockey 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.739 were at that time. So true. team they kept the 00:01:57.739 --> 00:01:59.920 Minnesota North Stars name and they actually 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.260 managed to stabilize for a bit. They even made 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:05.359 the Stanley Cup finals in 1981 and again in 1991. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:08.439 But that success was kind of just a facade. Totally 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:10.500 a facade for what was happening behind the scenes. 00:02:11.259 --> 00:02:13.780 By the early 90s, despite that recent finals 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:16.199 appearance, the team was facing declining attendance. 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:19.460 Plus, they were playing in an aging arena. And 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:22.180 their owner, Norman Green, was distracted by 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:25.719 a series of outside financial issues and some 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.479 personal controversies. So Green approached the 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.960 league and asked to move the team. And what's 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.719 fascinating here is that the initial strategy 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:35.539 wasn't Texas at all. Oh, right. It was California. 00:02:35.900 --> 00:02:38.259 Yeah. Green originally explored moving the team 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:41.599 to the San Francisco Bay Area. and later to Anaheim 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.800 with the intention of calling them the Los Angeles 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:47.300 Stars. Wow. But the NHL had other corporate plans. 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:49.560 They wanted the Walt Disney Company to have the 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:51.340 Anaheim market. Which, of course, became the 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:54.180 Mighty Ducks. Exactly. So the league essentially 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:56.539 told Green he could relocate the North Stars 00:02:56.539 --> 00:02:59.060 anywhere else he wanted as long as he stayed 00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:01.360 completely out of Disney's way. Enter former 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:04.680 Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Stoback. Stoback 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.639 is the key here. He really is. Stoback actually 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:10.400 convinced Norman Green that Dallas, Texas would 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.400 be a vital market for an NHL team. So in the 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:17.599 fall of 1993, they pack up the franchise, drop 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.219 the North from their name, and become simply 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:24.199 the Dallas Stars, which is a brilliant bit of 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.120 branding luck, honestly. That their original 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:28.840 name fit the Lone Star State so perfectly. Yeah. 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:31.169 It just worked out. It did work out, but the 00:03:31.169 --> 00:03:33.169 sheer risk of this move cannot be overstated. 00:03:33.189 --> 00:03:36.370 Oh, for sure. Placing an NHL franchise in Texas 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:39.750 was a massive league experiment. At the time, 00:03:39.750 --> 00:03:41.689 the NHL was just beginning to venture into non 00:03:41.689 --> 00:03:44.199 -traditional southern markets. They were stepping 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:46.419 into a region with a long legacy of minor league 00:03:46.419 --> 00:03:49.099 hockey, sure, but asking a major league franchise 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:51.740 to thrive in a football -dominated warm weather 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:54.900 market, that was a colossal gamble. A huge leap 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:56.419 of faith. They were trying to be a first mover 00:03:56.419 --> 00:03:59.280 in a massive untapped media market, banking on 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:01.139 the idea that Dallas residents would embrace 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.360 a fast physical sport if it was just presented 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.120 correctly. And they made very sure it was presented 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:09.460 correctly by winning immediately. In their very 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:13.060 first game in Dallas in October 1993, they beat 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:16.939 the Detroit Red Wings 6 -4. And, ironically enough, 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.959 a Minnesota native, Neil Broughton, scored the 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.420 very first goal for the Stars in their new city. 00:04:22.540 --> 00:04:24.540 You can't write that stuff. You really can't. 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:27.439 Plus, their young star player, Mike Madano, put 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.879 up a career -best 93 -point season right out 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:33.360 of the gate. That immediate on -ice success at 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.350 Reunion Arena instantly legitimize the team in 00:04:36.350 --> 00:04:38.990 North Texas. Because immediate success is the 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:41.290 single most effective marketing strategy when 00:04:41.290 --> 00:04:43.350 entering a new territory. It just solves everything. 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:46.589 It accelerates fan adoption exponentially. You 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:48.870 can spend millions on advertising. But a winning 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:51.689 product creates organic word of mouth that money 00:04:51.689 --> 00:04:54.829 simply cannot buy. OK, so that initial viability 00:04:54.829 --> 00:04:57.089 proved the market could work. But viability wasn't 00:04:57.089 --> 00:04:58.790 enough for the new ownership group that stepped 00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:01.949 in a few years later. In December 1995, businessman 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:04.529 Tom Hicks bought the team. And under general 00:05:04.529 --> 00:05:06.689 manager Bob Ganey and a rigorous new head coach, 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:08.990 Ken Hitchcock, they didn't just want to survive 00:05:08.990 --> 00:05:11.689 in Texas. They wanted to build a dynasty. Exactly. 00:05:11.689 --> 00:05:13.850 They started aggressively assembling the pieces. 00:05:14.189 --> 00:05:16.990 They executed some highly strategic acquisitions 00:05:16.990 --> 00:05:20.709 to build a very specific type of team. They traded 00:05:20.709 --> 00:05:23.430 for defenseman Sergei Zubov, who became the absolute 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:26.129 quarterback of their power play. They signed 00:05:26.129 --> 00:05:28.910 star goaltender Ed Belfort in free agency to 00:05:28.910 --> 00:05:32.269 secure the back end. And then, in the 1998 offseason, 00:05:32.470 --> 00:05:34.569 they added what they believed was the final puzzle 00:05:34.569 --> 00:05:37.209 piece. Legendary goal scorer Brett Hull. Brett 00:05:37.209 --> 00:05:40.699 Hull. Yes. And the 1998 -99 season proved they 00:05:40.699 --> 00:05:43.860 were completely right. It was a year of absolute 00:05:43.860 --> 00:05:47.019 dominance. They won the president's trophy for 00:05:47.019 --> 00:05:49.220 the league's best regular season record, boasting 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:53.420 114 points, which, remarkably, is still a franchise 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:56.040 record today. Still stands. Still stands. Then 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.240 they stormed through the playoffs, they swept 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:00.480 the Edmonton Oilers, defeated the St. Louis Blues, 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:02.779 and took down the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:04.879 to reach the Stanley Cup final against the Buffalo 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.319 Sabres. And the culmination of that... series 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:09.439 remains one of the most debated moments in the 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:12.500 history of the sport okay let's unpack this because 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:15.319 game six of that 1999 stanley cup final is the 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.060 stuff of legend the stars are up 3 -2 in the 00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:21.000 series the game goes into overtime then double 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.120 overtime then triple over then triple overtime 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.480 It is 14 minutes and 51 seconds into the third 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:28.920 overtime period when Brett Hall scores the cup 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.339 winning goal against Sabres goaltender Dominic 00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:34.519 Hasek. But the controversy surrounding that single 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:37.300 shot is still argued about in bars across Buffalo 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:41.240 today. It is because this specific moment raises 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.879 an important question about how overly complex 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:47.160 rules can create massive historical controversy. 00:06:47.420 --> 00:06:49.959 The infamous crease rule. Right. The crease rule. 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:52.660 Yeah. At the time, the NHL was strictly enforcing 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:55.220 this rule. It dictated that an attacking player 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:57.360 could not enter the goalie's painted crease area 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:59.019 before the puck did. It was supposed to protect 00:06:59.019 --> 00:07:01.060 the goalies, right? It was meant to protect goalies, 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:03.399 but it was incredibly subjective in practice. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.639 When Hull took his initial shot, he was outside 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.259 the crease. Heisig blocked it, but didn't catch 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:12.060 it. As Hull corralled the rebound, one of his 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:13.959 skates entered the crease before he fired his 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:16.720 second shot. the game winner so buffalo fans 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:19.399 still argue to this day that his foot was in 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:22.019 the crease so the goal should have been disallowed 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:25.379 and if you look at the strict letter of the rule 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:28.360 book at the time it is very hard to entirely 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.959 dismiss their anger it is the officials however 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.000 utilized a very specific interpretation of the 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.939 rule They ruled that because Hasek simply blocked 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:39.000 the shot rather than taking possession of it, 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.699 Hull was considered to have had continuous possession 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:43.660 of the puck from the moment he took his first 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:46.259 shot outside the crease. Ah, continuous possession. 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:49.120 Exactly. Because he had continuous possession, 00:07:49.379 --> 00:07:51.759 his foot was allowed to be in the crease. The 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.970 goal stood, and Dallas won the Stanley Cup. But 00:07:54.970 --> 00:07:57.670 the backlash was so intense and the rule proved 00:07:57.670 --> 00:08:00.250 so difficult to manage consistently that the 00:08:00.250 --> 00:08:02.730 NHL actually repealed the crease rule the very 00:08:02.730 --> 00:08:05.110 next season. It was a literal game -changing 00:08:05.110 --> 00:08:08.110 moment. And it cemented Dallas as a true hockey 00:08:08.110 --> 00:08:10.589 town. They had their championship. But in the 00:08:10.589 --> 00:08:12.810 business of sports, maintaining the summit is 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:15.129 often harder than reaching it. Always is. The 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:17.290 highs continued for a while. They returned to 00:08:17.290 --> 00:08:19.209 the Stanley Cup final the very next year in 2000, 00:08:19.470 --> 00:08:21.550 though they lost to the New Jersey Devils. They 00:08:21.550 --> 00:08:23.649 moved out of Reunion Arena and into the state 00:08:23.649 --> 00:08:25.910 -of -the -art American Airlines Center. You had 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:29.810 goaltender Marty Turco posting a historic 1 .76 00:08:29.810 --> 00:08:33.330 goals against average in the 2002 -2003 season. 00:08:33.529 --> 00:08:35.750 And for context here, a goals against average, 00:08:35.870 --> 00:08:38.389 or GAA, is exactly what it sounds like. The average 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:41.090 number of goals a goalie allows per game. Posting 00:08:41.090 --> 00:08:44.909 a 1 .76 GAA means Turco was allowing fewer than 00:08:44.909 --> 00:08:47.580 two goals a night. over an entire season. That 00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:49.899 is insane. It was a statistical feat that hadn't 00:08:49.899 --> 00:08:52.200 been seen in the NHL since the era of wooden 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.580 sticks and entirely different goaltending equipment 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:57.179 back in 1940. Just dominant. And we can't forget 00:08:57.179 --> 00:09:00.600 the legendary 2008 playoff run. Game six against 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.419 the San Jose Sharks goes into quadruple overtime. 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:06.000 Quadruple. Quadruple. Finally, Captain Brendan 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.019 Morrow scores the game winner nearly halfway 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:10.740 into the fourth OT. Because the game ended in 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.019 the early morning hours of May 5th, the fan base 00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:16.019 organically dubbed it Cinco de Mar. I love that. 00:09:16.259 --> 00:09:19.559 That kind of nickname is a brilliant example 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:23.679 of deep localized fan culture. The fans are writing 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:26.460 their own history. But that high was immediately 00:09:26.460 --> 00:09:29.279 followed by a very severe, very rapid decline. 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:33.399 Yeah, things got bad. From 2008 to 2011, the 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:35.759 franchise entered its dark years. The on -ice 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.240 product deteriorated rapidly. Brendan Morrow 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.559 tore his ACL. Key players suffered serious injuries. 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:45.019 There was bizarre off -ice drama with a controversial 00:09:45.019 --> 00:09:47.480 player named Sean Avery that caused a massive 00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:49.980 media uproar and forced the league to intervene. 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:52.220 A total mess. And then Mike Madonna, the absolute 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:54.240 face of the franchise for two decades, actually 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.519 left in free agency to play his final season 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:58.580 for his hometown Detroit Red Wings. The team 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:00.340 missed the playoff. playoffs multiple years in 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:02.360 a row. But the on -ice struggles were really 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:04.580 just a symptom of a massive off -ice disaster. 00:10:04.980 --> 00:10:07.480 Owner Tom Hicks ran into severe financial troubles, 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.960 largely tied to the fallout from the 2008 financial 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:12.240 crisis. His ownership group, Hicks Sports Group, 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:14.539 was heavily leveraged. As the credit markets 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:16.679 froze, he defaulted on hundreds of millions of 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.059 dollars in loans. The impact on the team was 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:22.440 immediate and just devastating. The NHL has a 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:24.639 salary cap. which limits how much a team can 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.759 spend on players, but it also has a salary floor. 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:30.320 During this period, the Stars' payroll was slashed 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:32.840 so drastically that they were operating over 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:35.720 $11 million beneath the league's salary cap, 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.480 right down near the absolute minimum allowed. 00:10:38.740 --> 00:10:40.799 They were just trying to survive. Over three 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:44.639 seasons, the franchise lost $92 million. By September 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.259 2011, the lenders essentially repossessed the 00:10:47.259 --> 00:10:49.399 team, forcing the Stars into bankruptcy, and 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.980 the franchise was put up for option. If we connect 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:54.259 this to the bigger picture, it perfectly illustrates 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:57.860 how severe financial instability directly paralyzes 00:10:57.860 --> 00:11:00.539 a business. When ownership is leveraged to the 00:11:00.539 --> 00:11:03.399 hilt and defaults on debt, you cannot retain 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.179 top talent. You cannot invest in player development 00:11:06.179 --> 00:11:08.679 or scouting. The entire organizational culture 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.080 shifts from being focused on victory to being 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.879 entirely consumed by basic survival. Right. The 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.019 front office's hands were completely tied. Completely 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:19.039 tied. It requires a hard structural reset to 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.610 fix that kind of rot. And that reset arrived 00:11:21.610 --> 00:11:24.070 in the form of Vancouver businessman Tom Gagliardi, 00:11:24.250 --> 00:11:27.110 who bought the team out of bankruptcy for $240 00:11:27.110 --> 00:11:30.450 million. Under Gagliardi, the team brought in 00:11:30.450 --> 00:11:33.389 Jim Leitz as CEO and eventually hired Jim Nill 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:36.330 as general manager. Nill provided a steady hand 00:11:36.330 --> 00:11:38.490 and immediately started making massive moves 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:42.210 to revitalize the roster. He traded for a young, 00:11:42.230 --> 00:11:45.529 dynamic superstar named Tyler Seguin, and visually, 00:11:45.710 --> 00:11:47.950 they completely rebranded the team. This was 00:11:47.950 --> 00:11:51.259 a big deal. It was. They introduced a new primary 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:53.960 color called Victory Green, which was a clever 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.899 modernized nod to their old Minnesota North Stars 00:11:56.899 --> 00:11:59.179 colors. It was a visual and operational rebirth. 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:01.799 They needed to signal to the fan base that the 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:04.039 era of austerity and bankruptcy was officially 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:06.929 over. The results were incredibly dramatic. Take 00:12:06.929 --> 00:12:10.370 the 2014 -2015 season. Captain Jamie Benn found 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:12.710 himself in a race for the Art Ross Trophy, which 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:14.590 is awarded to the league's overall points leader. 00:12:14.970 --> 00:12:17.070 It all came down to the final game of the season. 00:12:17.309 --> 00:12:19.370 Benn needed at least one point to overtake John 00:12:19.370 --> 00:12:22.330 Tavares for the trophy. With exactly 8 .5 seconds 00:12:22.330 --> 00:12:25.269 left in regulation time, Benn registered a secondary 00:12:25.269 --> 00:12:27.590 assist. Meaning he was the second -to -last player 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:29.370 to pass the puck before the goal was scored. 00:12:29.529 --> 00:12:31.889 Right. He finished the season with 87 points, 00:12:32.070 --> 00:12:34.200 beating Tavares by a single point right. Right 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:36.480 at the buzzer. Individual brilliance like that 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.220 reignited the fan base. And the new ownership 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:42.240 group capitalized on that renewed energy by leaning 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.019 heavily into modern spectacles, proving they 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:47.639 weren't just a surviving franchise, but a thriving 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:49.840 one. The ultimate proof of that was the 2020 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.139 Winter Classic. On January 1st, they hosted an 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:55.500 outdoor hockey game at the historic Cotton Bowl 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:58.840 Stadium in Dallas. Building a functioning ice 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:00.919 rink in the middle of a Texas football stadium 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.960 is a logistical marvel in itself. But what is 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:08.120 truly staggering is that it drew 85 ,630 fans. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.379 Unbelievable numbers. That was the second largest 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:13.080 crowd in NHL history watching outdoor hockey 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:14.940 in the South. Which goes all the way back to 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:18.320 the initial risk Norman Green took in 1993. By 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.539 packing the Cotton Bowl in 2020, they proved 00:13:20.539 --> 00:13:22.600 beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Great Southern 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:25.720 Experiment was a resounding success. Texas is 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:27.919 unequivocally a hockey market. They backed up 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:29.840 that spectacle with a return to dominance on 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.330 the ice too. Later that same year, during the 00:13:32.330 --> 00:13:35.470 COVID -shortened 2020 season, they made an incredible 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:37.750 run through the playoffs bubble in Edmonton to 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:39.929 reach the Stanley Cup final again, eventually 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:42.830 falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then in 2022, 00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:45.490 their young goaltender, Jake Oettinger, put on 00:13:45.490 --> 00:13:48.850 a heroic 64 -save performance in Game 7 of the 00:13:48.850 --> 00:13:51.549 first round against Calgary. And in the 2022 00:13:51.549 --> 00:13:54.809 -2023 season, forward Jason Robertson absolutely 00:13:54.809 --> 00:13:58.190 exploded offensively, breaking Mike Monano's 00:13:58.190 --> 00:14:00.600 longstanding franchise record. by putting up 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.919 109 points in a single season. They successfully 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.220 bridged the gap between their legacy players 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:09.019 from the 90s and a new generation of superstars. 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.960 But what truly sustains a franchise through the 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.659 lean bankruptcy years and amplifies the successful 00:14:14.659 --> 00:14:17.419 years is the culture surrounding it. You can't 00:14:17.419 --> 00:14:19.840 just transplant a sport. You have to adapt it 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.000 to the local environment. The Stars haven't just 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.379 imported a northern game. They have built a genuinely 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:27.100 quirky, highly specific Texan hockey culture. 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:29.179 Here's where it gets really interesting. Let's 00:14:29.179 --> 00:14:31.259 talk about the infamous Muterus. A prime example 00:14:31.259 --> 00:14:33.620 of accidental culture building. Accidental is 00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:36.840 the word. For the 2003 -2004 season, the stars 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.269 introduced a new alternate jersey. It was black 00:14:40.269 --> 00:14:42.769 with red trim, and the logo was supposed to be 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.269 a modern, aggressive representation of the Taurus 00:14:45.269 --> 00:14:48.029 constellation, tying into the whole Texas steer 00:14:48.029 --> 00:14:51.090 imagery. But fans and critics immediately pointed 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:53.929 out that the crest looked exactly like a diagram 00:14:53.929 --> 00:14:57.169 of a uterus. It really did. The fan base relentlessly 00:14:57.169 --> 00:15:00.169 mocked it, quickly dubbing it the muterus. It 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:02.149 was deeply embarrassing for the front office 00:15:02.149 --> 00:15:04.269 at the time, but over the years, it has become 00:15:04.269 --> 00:15:07.070 this hilarious, beloved piece of weird franchise 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:10.700 lore. proudly wear those jerseys to games now. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.620 When fans take ownership of a brand's misstep 00:15:13.620 --> 00:15:15.980 and turn it into an inside joke, it actually 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:18.240 creates community. It becomes a badge of honor 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.159 for the diehards who were there during that specific 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.159 era. The organization also intentionally cultivated 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:26.519 an edge that fit their new home. In the 1990s, 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:28.879 members of the legendary local heavy metal band 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.639 Pantera, specifically Vinnie Paul and Dimebag 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.720 Daryl, became close friends with the players. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.279 They were constantly around the team. Pantera 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.460 actually wrote and recorded the team's custom 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:41.019 fight song, which is called Puck Off. It sets 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:44.039 such a specific tone. It does. In most traditional 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:46.139 hockey arenas, you hear a lot of organ music. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.100 In Dallas, whenever the Stars take the ice or 00:15:49.100 --> 00:15:51.360 right after they score a goal, that grinding 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:54.139 heavy metal riff plays and the entire arena pumps 00:15:54.139 --> 00:15:58.000 their fists and chants, Dallas Stars. And you 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.840 combine that heavy metal edge with the local 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:01.919 tradition of the fans screaming the word Stars 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.379 during the national anthem. Anyone who has been 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:06.360 to a game knows exactly what you're talking about. 00:16:06.820 --> 00:16:09.620 During the line, whose broad stripes and bright 00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:12.919 stars, the entire arena screams the word at the 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.559 top of their lungs. What we are looking at here 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:17.879 from a broader perspective is a masterclass in 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:20.580 audience engagement. When you transplant a business 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:22.700 to a non -traditional market, you can't just 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:24.940 rely on the core product to sell tickets. You 00:16:24.940 --> 00:16:27.580 have to localize the experience, creating hyper 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.340 -local inside jokes like the muterous, establishing 00:16:30.340 --> 00:16:33.240 unique, region -specific audio cues like a bespoke 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:35.200 Pantera song instead of traditional organ music, 00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:37.740 and encouraging interactive traditions during 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:40.559 the anthem. These elements forge an authentic 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.139 unbreakable bond. It transforms passive spectators 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:46.440 into an active community. So what does this all 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:49.080 mean for you listening right now? Whether you 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.860 are prepping for a boardroom meeting, launching 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:53.240 a new product in an unfamiliar territory, or 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:55.820 just trying to navigate a major life or career 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:58.179 change, the history of the Dallas Stars proves 00:16:58.179 --> 00:17:01.279 a fundamental truth. With the right talent, bold 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.519 branding, and a genuine willingness to embrace 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:05.980 local culture, you can successfully transplant 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.279 an idea into an environment where it seemingly 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:11.019 doesn't belong. They took a sport played on frozen 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:13.359 ponds and turned it into a heavy metal spectacle 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.259 in the Texas heat, surviving bankruptcy and massive 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.059 rule controversies along the way. I will leave 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:21.680 you with a final thought to mull over. As we 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.460 look toward the future, climate change is undeniably 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:27.119 altering traditional winter environments, making 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.579 outdoor ice increasingly rare in places that 00:17:29.579 --> 00:17:32.450 historically relied on it. At the same time, 00:17:32.509 --> 00:17:34.369 digital communities are beginning to outweigh 00:17:34.369 --> 00:17:36.890 physical geographical ones. Will the concept 00:17:36.890 --> 00:17:39.170 of a traditional hockey market even exist 20 00:17:39.170 --> 00:17:42.390 years from now? Or do the Dallas Stars, by completely 00:17:42.390 --> 00:17:44.390 shedding their original geographical identity 00:17:44.390 --> 00:17:46.630 to build a culture based on entertainment and 00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:49.009 local attitude, simply map out the inevitable 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:52.230 future of all regional sports? That is a fascinating 00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:54.750 question to ponder as the landscape of sports 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:57.740 and business continues to shift. Thank you so 00:17:57.740 --> 00:17:59.920 much for joining us for this deep dive into the 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:02.099 archives. We loved unpacking this history with 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:03.859 you and we will catch you on the next one.