According the The Hockey News and The Sporting News hockey blog, the Dallas Stars could be up for sale as early as this summer.
Despite selling the Texas Rangers for more than $500 million recently, Stars owner Tom Hicks' financial troubles have not subsided and the CIT Group, to whom Hicks has defaulted on loans, is forcing Hicks to sell the NHL team.
To that end, the Stars have hired an investment advisor to put the team on the market. The starting asking price is believed to be more than $300 million. It's believed the Stars lost just $5 million last season, but that was without the benefit of any home playoff dates.
With reports out about the troubles surrounding the sale of the Texas Rangers, and how that sale would not satisfy all of the debt Hicks Sports Group has accrued, it's not surprising that the Stars would be next in line. One reason the Stars were not sold before the Rangers is because of the value of an NHL team versus a baseball team, and how it was hoped that the sale of the Rangers would satisfy all of the loans HSG has defaulted on. Yet with Hicks' financial troubles mounting, and the fact that the Stars still generate a very high amount of revenue, selling the hockey franchise might not be as hard as some thought.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning sale in it's final stages, the NHL could set it's sights on Dallas and the ownership situation that is developing here.