Stars/Rangers Owner Tom Hicks has started the process
of moving the Stars off-ice operations to The Ballpark in
Arlington, according to Sean Wood of the FT. WORTH STAR-
TELEGRAM. Stars/Rangers CFO and Southwest Sports Group
VP/Finance & Operations John McMichael: "The idea is to
combine organizations; we're trying to take advantage of
efficiencies and work together." Over the next several
weeks, "more than" 50 Stars employees will be moving to the
Rangers' offices, and telephone operators at the ballpark
have already begun answering calls with: "Texas Rangers,
Dallas Stars. How may I direct your call?" Only sales,
marketing and ticket personnel will move into the ballpark
offices with Rangers employees, including President Jim
Lites and VP/Marketing Jeff Cogen. More McMichael: "We're
hoping that the people who work here won't say, `I work for
the Rangers,' or `I work for the Stars.' They work for
Southwest Sports Group" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 6/30).
THREE-RING CIRCUS? FORTUNE's Peter Elkind reports on
Hicks placing the Stars management team in charge of the
Rangers' front office in a desire to "juice-up baseball with
NHL-style energy." Traditionalists "decry the 'circus-like'
atmosphere," which features "pounding rock music (instead of
an organ)" and the firing of souvenir T-shirts from a
hydraulic cannon into the crowd. Dallas attorney and
"longtime" Rangers season-ticket holder Alan Wright: "It's a
distraction from the game. It seems like it's aimed at
people with attention deficit disorder." Cogen, who is also
the Rangers' VP/Marketing: "This isn't a dastardly plan by
Stars people to ruin the game of baseball. It is part of a
strategy to sell more tickets" (FORTUNE, 7/5 issue).
