Stealing home

When Hicks bought the Stars, the team's payroll ranked among the lowest in the league at $18 million; as a result, the Stars were among the NHL's bottom-feeders, owning the 22nd best record in a league of 26 teams. Two years later, the Stars' payroll sits at a lofty $31.7 million, which is fifth in the league, and the Stars are the winningest team in the NHL, boasting a coach and a roster one misstep away from winning the Stanley Cup.

"I joke that the main contributions I made were saying yes when they asked for more money," Hicks says about his Stars, flashing what's either a smile or a grimace. "But it was a critical decision when we were still in the letter-of-intent stage to let them sign Joe Nieuwendyk, because I could have prevented that from happening. We knew what that was going to do to the payroll.

"But those were tough decisions. Each time we said yes, that increased the losses of the team, which I had to fund out of my own pocket."

The Stars will continue to lose money until they move into their new arena, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2000. Jim Lites refuses to say just how much the team loses annually. He will only admit it's a "significant" amount, blaming the deficit on a dearth of TV revenues, the size of Reunion Arena and its lack of top-dollar luxury boxes, and the high payroll.

"We have the best team in the NHL and the fifth-highest payroll in the NHL," Lites says. "Tom wants the team to win and has allowed us the opportunity and luxury to have a winning team's payroll without the same level of revenue streams."

The new city-supported arena will, of course, change all that: From the additional revenue brought in by the sale and rental of luxury boxes to the additional money brought in by expanded concession and merchandising sales, the Stars will become a profitable team not long after the arena is completed. Then there's also the not-so-small matter of the regional sports network Hicks will get on the air after the Stars and Rangers (and, most likely, the Mavericks) are out of their TV deals in the next three years.

Yet spending does not guarantee winning, a fact the Rangers should know better than anyone. Of the teams with the seven largest payrolls going into the 1997 season, only the Rangers and the Chicago White Sox--who began in April with a $54.5 million payroll--didn't make the playoffs. The failure of the Sox to make post-season play could be blamed on team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who sold off the franchise in pieces when he decided it wasn't worth chasing Cleveland for the AL Central pennant.

The Rangers' disasters were blamed on bad decisions by management--the very same management Hicks is keeping in place, for now--and injuries. Rather than sign shortstop Kevin Elster after his remarkable performance during the 1996 season--he drove in 99 runs and was a sure-handed infielder--they left their fortunes in the holes-for-hands of Benji Gil, a project who never developed. Gil has since been traded to the White Sox, and Elster is back for one more go-round--after an injury-plagued season in Pittsburgh. The team also never found a suitable leadoff hitter, and Tom Goodwin, who came from Kansas City in the Dean Palmer trade, is no great find: He's a speedy outfielder and a great base stealer...when he actually gets on base.

Will Clark collected much of his $5.6 million last year from the bench, where he sat with torn tissue in his right heel, an injury that still bothers him. Second baseman Mark McLemore hasn't played since August and is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on both knees. Pitchers Xavier Hernandez and Danny Patterson also underwent surgery in the off-season.

The decision to sign the up-and-down Witt for $3.25 million is a disturbing development, but hardly a shocking one in a business where expansion teams and free agency are draining the talent pool. Hicks will have to pay a hell of a lot of money this year to mediocre talent and injured veterans--never mind the one star pitcher this team so desperately needs.

"The current management and ownership adopted a philosophy a few years ago that they really want to go with quality people who first want to play for the Texas Rangers," Hicks says. "They decided they didn't want people who didn't want to be here, which I agree with. I support that. We're gonna run the team as a business. They're going to be under a long-term contract, and it's gotta be someone they think will help the club. And probably when you bring one in, you've got to get one out, too, so it's a matter of how you change the team to make that payroll work."