{"id":361992,"date":"2025-11-07T10:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361992\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T10:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:46:11","slug":"texas-ag-antitrust-probe-targets-dallas-stars-youth-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361992\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas AG antitrust probe targets Dallas Stars, youth hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

A $2B NHL team seized control of youth hockey. Parents are fed up.<\/p>\n

Ice is power in the lucrative world of youth hockey. In North Texas, parents say the Dallas Stars hold almost all of it.<\/p>\n

The Texas Attorney General\u2019s antitrust division is investigating anticompetitive business practices in youth hockey, USA TODAY has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Dallas Stars, the\u00a0$2 billion\u00a0National Hockey League team that seized control of youth hockey in the state, are a focus of the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state inquiry, which is in its early, information-gathering stages, comes on the heels of a USA TODAY investigation in August that revealed how the professional sports franchise monopolized every level of amateur hockey in Texas, from preschoolers to adults.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The Dallas Stars have not been contacted by the Texas Attorney General\u2019s office,” Joe Calvillo, the NHL team’s director of communications, said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. “The Dallas Stars are committed to providing the best possible experience for all players, teams and families who participate in our leagues and tournaments through long-standing partnerships with cities across the DFW Metroplex.”<\/p>\n

Reached by phone, assistant attorney general Paige Etherington, who is working on the case, told USA TODAY the office does not comment on confidential investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0the second investigation a state agency\u00a0has launched\u00a0into\u00a0a\u00a0youth hockey organization\u00a0in response to USA TODAY\u2019s reporting. The Colorado Secretary of State\u2019s office\u00a0opened an investigation in October\u00a0 into\u00a0the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association\u2019s mismanagement of a charity 50\/50 raffle held at professional sporting\u00a0events\u00a0that was supposed to\u00a0benefit\u00a0youth hockey families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latest investigation: <\/strong>A 50\/50 raffle at pro sports games was meant to help kids. Thousands of dollars vanished.<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of the\u00a0Texas\u00a0investigation,\u00a0Etherington\u00a0and investigator Stephen Craig\u00a0of the Texas Office of the Attorney General\u2019s antitrust division\u00a0spoke to Lisa Bry, a Dallas-area hockey mom who went public about her experience with the Stars for USA TODAY\u2019s series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Etherington and Craig asked Bry\u00a0about the Stars\u2019 dominance in the youth hockey market, pricing power and the experiences of rinks that try to compete with the NHL team. They discussed Stars-run youth leagues, tournaments, private\u00a0lessons\u00a0and stay-to-play hotel requirements \u2013 a practice detailed by USA TODAY in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s investigation, Bry said, gives\u00a0hope\u00a0to hockey parents across the country who feel stuck in a system in which corporate interests\u00a0exploit\u00a0families and kids\u2019 passions for profit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the Stars are shaking in their boots right now,\u201d Bry\u00a0said of\u00a0the state investigation to USA TODAY. \u201cI think this could be huge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

USA TODAY\u2019s investigation detailed how the Stars used tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to build an ice rink empire, crush\u00a0competition\u00a0and regularly raise prices while diminishing the quality of their services. Knowing most families have nowhere else to go, the Stars impose their will by reminding parents that they can block the pathway for any kid trying to advance to the sport\u2019s highest stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0reporting\u00a0documented multiple examples of the Stars retaliating against people they perceive as threats, from coaches who\u00a0defect to\u00a0other rinks to parents who criticize them on Facebook. The Stars also stacked the Texas Amateur Hockey Association \u2013 the nonprofit USA Hockey governing body that regulates the sport in the region \u2013 with their own executives, all but ensuring no one would stand in their way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A USA TODAY investigation in March revealed how three now-former Stars executives profited off their positions with the NHL team and Texas Amateur Hockey Association by forcing participants at Stars-run tournaments to book minimum three-night hotel stays they did not always want or need. At the same time, those executives ran a business that took a cut\u00a0of\u00a0the revenue\u00a0from each hotel booking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay-to-play requirements, which are common across youth sports, are\u00a0perhaps the\u00a0clearest example of the Stars\u2019 anticompetitive business practices, Luke Hasskamp, an antitrust attorney with Bona Law, told USA TODAY in July.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Threatening and retaliating against parents and coaches who use non-Stars-run rinks and locking cities into 20- to 30-year leases to manage taxpayer-funded rinks, Hasskamp said, could also run afoul of antitrust laws, which require firms to compete for business solely on the merits of their products and services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay-to-play requirements were one focus of a 2020 antitrust lawsuit against Varsity Brands, a company that required participants at its youth cheerleading competitions to stay at specific hotels from which it received kickbacks. Varsity agreed to limit its stay-to-play policies as part of its $82.5 million settlement of that lawsuit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stars spokesperson Dan Stuchal said in July that the NHL team would \u201cloosen\u201d its stay-to-play requirements in response to USA TODAY\u2019s reporting. Two current and former Stars employees who served on the Texas Amateur Hockey Association board also resigned from their seats, and one did not seek reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Etherington and Craig asked Bry for names and contact information\u00a0of\u00a0others in the Texas hockey community to potentially interview for the state investigation. They also told Bry they planned to issue her a civil investigative demand \u2013 a discovery tool that government agencies use to compel information before filing a lawsuit \u2013 for her Stars-related documents and correspondence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bry said she is more than willing to comply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is to deter other markets from following this model that the Stars have created and that the Stars look internally and maybe\u00a0do\u00a0some better business decisions,\u201d Bry said. \u201cIt\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0be the way it is. Kids\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0dollar signs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kenny Jacoby is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY who covers issues in sports, higher education and law enforcement. Contact him by email at kjacoby@usatoday.com. Follow him on X\u00a0@kennyjacoby<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@kennyjacoby.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n