Dallas Stars to pull out of Duncanville Dr Pepper StarCenter

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

The Stars may give the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Duncanville the ax.

As the Dallas Morning News is reporting, it looks as if the Dallas Stars are poised to pull out of the Dr Pepper StarCenter project in Duncanville. The plan on the table is conversion to a Bob Knight’s Fieldhouse basketball facility run by a different company.

The most positive thing here is the phrase “run by a different company.” It’s a shame because professional hockey needs to be doing a lot more to promote itself. Basketball, created in America and loved by Americans, doesn’t need much the hard sell nearly as much as hockey does.

Guys from the Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers are often making the rounds at Best Southwest functions, preaching to the converted. The NFL’s Terrell Owens even came back to Duncanville to hold his football camp after he got traded to Buffalo. Stars brass can’t be bothered to cross the Trinity River for the most part.

The organization has been in full retreat from the South Dallas area for a while now, and now we know why. I’m thinking the Bob Knight’s Fieldhouse idea didn’t just come up. The Stars officials will say all the right things about wanting to put hockey sticks in young kids’ hands, but in the end they’ll make the decision that puts dollars in the organization’s coffers.

It’s unfortunate because the Dr Pepper StarCenter was such an integral part of the Main Street Vision for reinventing that part of the city. With the Dallas Stars signing a 20-year lease in 2000, the sky seemed to be the limit. There are some ready-made excuses here. The execs can throw up their hands and say that hockey just doesn’t work in South Dallas. They can blame the bad economy, but deep down I think we all know they’re kidding themselves.

Looking back, I can’t pinpoint the day the Stars organization gave up on this project. Maybe they can’t either. But there hasn’t been anything on the Stars’ end that could be mistaken for promoting this facility in years. As one parent told WFAA, there are people in the community that think it’s a Dr Pepper storage center. Bottom line, the people whose job it is to clear that misconception up never did.

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Anonymous

The tragedy of this entire debaucle is that the ones who stand to lose the most are the kids. There are hundreds of kids who have been introduced to the sport of hockey who live South of the Trinity - and kids who are of color have been given exposure.

But culpability can't be blamed solely on the Dallas Stars. It was also the responsibility of the City to assist the center to be successful. Simple things like appropriate signage could have helped - just take a look at the example of Cedar Hill and their mega shopping center.

The City Council is quick to say that the fate lies in the hands of the Stars. If that is so, why is the City offering a reduced lease to the Knight crew - the very thing that the Stars requested in order to stay but were denied? Makes you wonder who's in bed with whom.

sings40 Anonymous

2 months ago
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Sings,

I can tell you first hand the city took every opportunity to promote this building, doing way more than was its responsibility.

The Stars really only seemed to become interested when there was public outcry. This facility has been run horribly for years. The efforts in recent weeks were too little, too late.

LancasterEditor Anonymous

2 months ago
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Let's see...it cost a lot less to gear up for basketball...kids in that area are probably more interested in basketball, their idols are probably basketball players. I'm sure whoever thought up the idea of putting an ice rink in Duncanville considered this first..right?...right?