R. Thomas Gaglardi (born December 7, 1967)Stars introduce owner Tom Gaglardi
November 21, 2011
ESPNDallas.com
Accessed November 21, 2011 is a Canadian business executive, and the owner of the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

Career

Gaglardi is president of Northland Properties Corporation of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, which he and his family own. The company operates hotels and restaurants in Canada and employs more than 10,000 people. He also serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of

Sandman Hotels Sandman Hotel Group is a Canadian hotel chain owned by Northland Properties. With the corporate headquarters based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the company currently has 47 properties across Canada under the brands Sandman Inns, Sandm ...

, Inns & Suites and Moxie's Grill & Bar. He has been a Director of Leading Brands, Inc. since October 1998 and Secretary since June 1999.R. Thomas Gaglardi EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Bloomberg-Business Week, Accessed November 21, 2011

Hockey Owner

Gaglardi first showed interest in buying a

team in 2004, when he and business partner Ryan Beedie made a bid to purchase fifty percent of the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

from then-owner John McCaw, Jr. A competing bid by a former partner of both Gaglardi and Beedie,

Francesco Aquilini Francesco Weasel Aquilini (born 1969) is a Canadian businessman, investor, and philanthropist and is the current chairman of the Vancouver Canucks. He is a managing director of Vancouver-based Aquilini Investment Group,

, was accepted by McCaw; Aquilini would acquire full ownership of the Canucks in 2006, but a high-profile legal battle would ensue between the former business partners over the ownership of the team, with the

Supreme Court of British Columbia Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motow ...

ruling in Aquilini's favour in July 2009. In April 2010, Gaglardi proposed purchasing the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

and relocating the team to

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. This potential move, although it never drew the amount of opposition that

Jim Balsillie James Laurence Balsillie (born February 3, 1961) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He is the former Chair and co-CEO of the Canadian technology company Research In Motion (Blackberry), which at its prime made over $20B in sales annua ...

's similar efforts have provoked, never happened, and True North Sports & Entertainment purchased the team instead, moving it to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

to become the second and current incarnation of the Jets. Gaglardi was formally introduced as the new owner of the

hockey team on November 18, 2011. He first expressed an interest in buying the Stars in 2009 and spent more than a year going through the process of completing the deal for the team, which went through a bankruptcy proceeding. As the new owner, Gaglardi's first move was bringing back former Stars president Jim Lites to once again take the reins as team President & CEO. A bankruptcy court judge approved the bid for an

enterprise value Enterprise value (EV), total enterprise value (TEV), or firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a business (i.e. as distinct from market price). It is a sum of claims by all claimants: creditors (secured and unsecured) ...

of $240 million. First line creditors got about 75 cents on the dollar. The Stars lost $38 million during their last fiscal year and $92 million over the last three seasons.Dallas Stars Sale To Tom Gaglardi For $240 Million Pummels Team's Creditors
November 22, 2011
forbes.com
Accessed November 23, 2011 He also is part of the ownership group of the

Kamloops Blazers The Kamloops Blazers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team plays in the B.C. Division of the Western Conference, is based out of Kamloops, British Columbia, and play home games at Sandman Centre. The Blazers ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...

and, as of 2014, owner of the

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the ...

, the Dallas Stars' AHL affiliate.

Personal life

His grandfather,

Phil Gaglardi Philip Arthur Gaglardi (January 13, 1913 – September 23, 1995), sometimes known as Flying Phil, was a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is best known for his service as Minister of Highways in the BC government fr ...

was a politician in

. His mother is a native of Longview,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and he said he has “serious

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

relatives” who live west of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaglardi, Tom 1968 births Living people Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian sports businesspeople Businesspeople from Dallas Businesspeople from Vancouver Northland Properties Dallas Stars executives

Owners Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...