Owner Tom Hicks looks to sell Dallas Stars

<br>ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ Owning two professional teams is becoming a burden for Tom Hicks. So the owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars is reluctantly ready to unload the NHL club. <br><br>``It's

Tuesday, September 10th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ Owning two professional teams is becoming a burden for Tom Hicks. So the owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars is reluctantly ready to unload the NHL club.

``It's like, 'Which kid do you love most?''' he said. ``It's something I've struggled with. It's a hard decision. The Stars have accomplished everything I set out to do. As much as I love both sports, I have a stronger knowledge base of baseball.''

Hicks said the sale of the Stars would help him concentrate more on the Rangers, who will finish last in the AL West for the third straight season.

``I am totally committed to transform the Texas Rangers into a team that competes every year for a division championship and eventually win its share of World Series championships,'' he said.

Personal factors also weighed in the decision by the 56-year-old owner.

``I thought long and hard about owning two sports teams,'' Hicks said. ``Eighty-two baseball games, 42 hockey games, six kids, a wife I'm devoted to ... and that all works together with a day job where I try to run a private equity firm. I made a painful decision that I need to go from a two-team owner to a one-team owner.''

A sale could take months to complete, and Hicks said he will insist on a hockey-loving, well-capitalized owner or ownership group with a commitment to winning.

``We're going to take our time and if we don't get it, I won't sell,'' he said.

Hicks wants to sell the team and his half-ownership in the company that manages and operates the American Airlines Center, the city's new $420 million sports arena.

Hicks bought the Stars in 1996 through his company, Southwest Sports Group. While he was owner, the Stars won five straight division championships, advanced twice to the NHL finals and won the Stanley Cup in 1999.

Because of increased revenue created when the Stars moved into American Airlines Center before last season, the franchise value of the Stars is worth as much as four times the $84 million that he paid for the club six years ago, he said.

Hicks said he made the decision last month and had planned to announce it next week, but feared news of the sale was leaking out in the New York financial community.

Hicks has engaged J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., to explore and manage a sale of the Stars and the arena. The company declined Monday to specify a proposed price for the Stars and Hicks' half-ownership in the center's company.