Baylor 2012
Geoff Moore
Dr Dawn Carlson
Dr Blaine McCormick
Dr Patricia Norman
Healthcare
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New responsibilities cap 10-year rise in Dallas Stars NHL franchise

Talent wins only if it works harder. Baylor MBA alumnus Geoff Moore has turned that observation into a guiding influence that has helped shaped his career as an executive with the Dallas Stars National Hockey League franchise. And just as NHL players do, he’s adroitly overcome and circumvented obstacles and interference, while choosing to ignore distracting influences.

Moore, who began as a sports intern with a nonprofit organization following completion of his MBA at Baylor University in 1990, has risen to the post of executive vice president of business operations with the Stars. Newly charged with the responsibility to oversee all operations of the 20,000-seat American Airlines Center arena in which the Stars play, Moore also oversees the Dr Pepper StarCenter division of the Southwest Sports Group, which owns the Stars as well as the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball club. The Dr Pepper StarCenters are six youth hockey rinks that the Stars operate to encourage interest and participation in hockey as well as figure skating.

During the past nine years, Moore has been responsible for the design and maintenance of the Stars’ practice facilities, set up the team’s first business office in Dallas, coordinated its subsequent relocation to its Valley Ranch practice facility in Irving, and served on the project management team directing the renovation of Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas to accommodate hockey play when the Stars first moved there in 1993 after playing for 26 seasons in Bloomington, Minn. As vice president of business operations for Southwest Sports Group, Moore at various times has had responsibilities for corporate services, food and beverage operations and the Legends of the Game Museum at The Ballpark in Arlington, and he oversaw operations of the Rangers’ spring training and Class A minor league team in Port Charlotte, Fla.

All of that was a long throw from the career prospects he pondered in 1990, after receiving his MBA from Baylor, where he had enrolled immediately after obtaining his undergraduate degree in marketing at Oklahoma State University. Moore says Baylor’s MBA training gave him the skills to absorb information and analyze complex issues. Additionally, he found social interaction among fellow students of equal importance. “Most of the people in my class had worked for a few years before coming back for their MBA. Since I had entered Baylor straight after finishing my undergrad work, I had to learn the discipline of the daily schedule necessary to compete at that level,” said Moore, who believes his experience at Baylor was enriched by the “higher degree of interaction with the professors necessary to get the most out of the classroom experience.” He said the “social and study group dynamics” on campus gave him the additional support he needed.

In addition to interviewing for several corporate sales positions following completion of his MBA degree work at Baylor, Moore responded out of curiosity to a newspaper ad seeking an intern for the newly created Dallas International Sports Commission (DISC), a 401(c)3 nonprofit corporation intended to attract sports events and entities to Dallas. He was offered a job there, but was dismayed to learn it paid only $10,400 a year—which equated to $5 per hour. Even though he was driving a truck that he said “would have embarrassed the Beverly Hillbillies,” he declined a $50,000 position at a freight services firm and accepted the DISC post in March 1991.

“The combination of economic and cultural development, sports and trying to sell people on Dallas was an intoxicating combination to me. The fact that [former Dallas Cowboys head coach] Tom Landry was going to be the chairman was the icing on the cake,” confided Moore. He had advanced to the position of director of DISC by January 1993, when the organization began actively courting the Minnesota North Stars to relocate to Dallas. Moore was sent to pick up North Stars owner Norman Green at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. “I borrowed a co-worker’s car, because I still had that stupid truck,” Moore recalls. After overcoming hurdles, the North Stars signed an agreement in mid-March to share Reunion Arena with the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. The day after signing the paperwork, Green hired Moore as the first employee of the transplanted hockey team, which shortened its name to the Stars.

Serving initially as Green’s assistant, Moore coordinated all the projects associated with the relocation, including purchase and delivery of office furniture and supplies, and was a member of the project management team overseeing renovation of Reunion Arena to accommodate hockey. But that June, newly hired president Jim Lites told Moore he would no longer be needed following the renovation of Reunion Arena. Despite that disturbing news, Moore managed to remain engrossed in the project.

As the renovation approached completion and the season opening approached, Moore expected to be hunting for a new job. Instead, Lites offered him a substantial raise in salary and appointed him director of game operations. In that capacity Moore was responsible for coordinating gate admissions, police services, parking, customer complaints, and all other aspects of game-day operations. In early 1995 Moore was designated the point-man to coordinate the relocation of the office staff to the team’s Valley Ranch practice facility, for which he assumed control over operations. “I learned more about making and maintaining ice than I had ever dreamed about as a small boy,” says Moore.

Moore’s experience in renovating Reunion Arena catapulted him in January 1997 into a new position in which he served as liaison to the design and planning process for American Airlines Center. The three-year construction project made him a lightning rod of attention, but he thrived on the energy. “I have researched and argued over every detail of every element that goes into a multi-use sports and entertainment facility. It was a fantastic and maddening process at the same time,” said Moore. When the Stars captured the Stanley Cup championship at the conclusion of the 1998–99 season, Moore planned the team’s victory parade and celebration.

Drawing upon the managerial and marketing training he acquired at Baylor, Moore has clearly delineated the Stars’ customer profile. “The speed and physical nature of hockey corresponds best with football. But hockey is more intense, because it has no huddles and low scoring, so it requires great attention. That’s why our demographics skew towards educated people who don’t have a problem reconciling violence in sports.”

The Stars have performed remarkably well in Dallas, not only on the playing field but also in attracting thousands of spectators who previously were unfamiliar with hockey. That’s attributable in large part to attentive customer service.

“Our entire staff is focused and dedicated to one team and their fans. And that is crucial in the highly competitive, complex and passionate arena in which we compete. As an example, BMW dealerships focus on one brand. Other less expensive brands are sometimes combined in a single dealership. The Stars have the highest average ticket price in the NHL, so we need to give our customers BMW attention and service,” explained Moore—who, incidentally, no longer drives that old truck.

HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS