“An Overnight Sensation 15 Years in the Making”: Texas Stars Smash Business Records, Stay Hungry for Next Big Win

Fresh off multiple league awards for marketing, game presentation and individual achievement in ticket sales, the Stars still have something to prove in the crowded Austin sports market

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

When Texas opened the 2009 season, the front office wondered openly if fans would know that Stars faithful yell out “STARS!” during the national anthem. 

Fifteen years later, as Texas faced off against the Silver Knights to open season 16, Stars fans heard a feeble “night” come from the visiting crowd during the anthem and completely overpowered it with their second STARS shout. The nearly 6000 fans in attendance were a testament to what the team has built over a decade and a half in Cedar Park.

On the business side, last season was a banner one for Texas without question. They notched a team-record 13 sellouts, over a third of their home games, and nearly eclipsed 6,000 fans on average in a building that only seats 6,778. Despite being in the bottom third of the league for arena capacity, the team has consistently ranked in the top 10 in team revenue.

At the league’s summer award ceremonies, Texas claimed the Western Conference crown for best game experience and the league’s honors for best marketing department. Additionally, the team’s ticket sales manager, Bo Molina, won the league’s inaugural Frank Torres Memorial Award for outstanding leadership in business development or sales while exemplifying creativity, support and integrity.

“It starts before the [prior] year is even over,” said Stars Chief Operating Officer and H-E-B Center General Manager Michael Delay of the planning process for every season. “We see how our theme nights from the previous year have performed. We're never sitting there trying to do a bunch of new stuff all at once. You know, call it the scientific method. I don't want to pull 12 levers at once.”

There are the events we’ve all come to know as part of the Texas Stars brand: military appreciation, Hockey Fights Cancer, Pink in the Rink. Those are meaningful events for the team and its front office. They also find ways to inject fun with cultural touchstones, and they are never static in that regard.

After several successful years, the team cycled out Harry Potter night, for example. Last year was the first year for Jurassic Night, a new entrant to the fray. While theme nights might feel silly to the “serious” hockey fan, bluntly, theme nights aren’t for “serious” hockey fans. They’re a way to get casual fans who’ve heard of Texas but haven’t had a reason to come to a game out to the H-E-B Center.

“That's part of our plan of growth. It’s why we do these things. Jurassic Night is not meant to be for everybody… If that was the thing that got them over the hump [to a game], then great.”

(Credit: Ross Boander/Texas Stars)

As discussed in my essay in We Win Here on the business side of the AHL, Texas has been an early innovator in the digital ad space and continues to find new ways to build on their database, which is ultimately how they fill the building. The first iteration of the database back in 2009 was a rough cut of all the people in the Austin area who had ever bought a ticket to a Dallas Stars game.

Now they’re more targeted.

“We're not all over the entire Austin Metro area. We're in the [areas] where our data shows our fans are. The heat map has certainly changed over the years. The old concept was ‘Well, just draw a circle around your building. They're coming from that radius.’ But now we start seeing a brighter dot out in Pflugerville and Hutto and Taylor, and even South Austin with people who are investing 30 or 40 minutes to get up here.”

A lot of times in business, success can be driven by knowing as much about who you aren’t selling to as who you are. By focusing more on the areas where they know the fans are already coming from, Texas is able to drive more efficient outreach spend.

“It’s been 25 or 30 years since we said, ‘Here's your index cards. Make 100 calls a day.’ There's been an investment, not just by us, but just in the industry as a whole in digital marketing and CRMs.”

Of course, we all get a lot of email, so that’s not the only way Texas fills the building. There are still in-person opportunities to spread Texas’ message of the joy of hockey, which takes us to a somewhat divisive topic for some, the back-to-back-to-back AHL Mascot of the Year, Ringo the Ringtail.

Delay certainly heard the detractors at the time, and his message remains the same. If you don’t like the idea of a mascot, “it’s not for you and that’s okay.”

(Credit: Ross Bonander/Texas Stars)

Think of a mid-August event here in town where the Stars have set up a booth. The team is going to send some ticket reps, and they’ll surely be able to have a great hockey conversation with anyone who stops by, but Ringo adds another element. “Ringo is how we project the fun of coming to a Texas Star game out into the community.”

Ringo also allows the team to continue doing community engagement when players aren’t in town. For example, Texas has been big on getting floor hockey into local elementary schools. Ringo shows up in a room full of 9 year-olds, has a blast showing them how to play floor hockey and leaves the equipment behind at the school, donated by Texas Children’s, so now they can play as part of PE any day they want.

One of those kids might ask their parents to come to the game that weekend, and that’s just sold some tickets and popcorn. One of those kids might be the first player drafted out of the Austin market.

Projecting the fun is important because Texas prides itself on game presentation. Even on a random Tuesday with no theme, the Stars drive fan engagement. On theme nights, everything is ramped up. The front office believes deeply that a theme night is not just a video intro and a specialty jersey. There have to be ways to incorporate the theme at every moment.

Finally, it comes down to the people who are executing on the vision. There are a lot of names that most fans don’t know who make the game experience possible. Shelby Haney, Ashley Hamilton, Annie Martin, Zack Laningham and more. All crucial pieces to what makes a Texas Stars game. 

Texas also got some individual recognition for their ticket sales leadership. Bo Molina received the inaugural Frank Torres Memorial Award after coming into Texas as a ticket sales rep and now managing the team. He was the quintessentially perfect inaugural winner of the award as he cut his teeth in the league under Frank Torres when they were both with the San Antonio Rampage.

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

“It’s kind of like the Belichick coaching tree, right? Frank knew what he was doing. He was really good at what he did. I think it shows in Bo, who we hired as a ticket rep to start with and has accepted increasing responsibility since he's been here.”

Like many players, the AHL is a stepping stone to NHL aspirations for front office staff too. Texas has been a good step on many non-player ladders; the Stars even sent an IT manager to the NHL, for example. 

Dallas Stars CEO Brad Alberts has always been a fan of how Texas and Dallas work together, “Selling tickets for the Stars in Dallas at the NHL level is different than the minor leagues in Cedar Park. So some of the things that Michael and his team do down there are going to be different than what we do. But certainly the two ticketing departments talk. [Texas Stars VP of Sponsorship Sales] Tyler Sanford has worked up here and is now a VP down there. So the DNA is together in both organizations, for sure.”

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

Much like the coach of the team, Neil Graham, its front office leadership and team is never satisfied and is far from resting on their laurels from last year when it comes to attacking this season’s challenges.

“I can't say enough about the group,” finished Delay. “I mean, they make it happen, right? It all starts in the summer….Once we get to the games, we're executing.”

Texas will look to continue their execution in search of more league honors and lifelong fan creation this Friday and Saturday at home against Iowa.