The Insider Interview – Mike Barack

The Texas Brahmas General Manager enters his 10th season with the organization as an owner

Eat, Sleep, Breath Brahmas. This is a phrase found on the Texas Brahmas website. It’s also a phrase that describes Mike Barack’s dedication to the organization. The Brahmas’ General Manager is entering his 10th season in the position, longer than any current GM in the Central Hockey League.

“He epitomizes the Brahmas franchise; passion, devotion and dedication. Mike’s level of professionalism and drive are what keeps him and the organization top-notch in the league,” said majority owner Stuart Fraser.

If you haven’t met Mike, you’ve probably seen his familiar face around the NYTEX Sports Centre. In fact, on game day, he makes countless journeys in and around the facility, greeting fans, handing out flyers or whatever needs to be done. Barack doesn’t expect his employees to do anything he wouldn’t do and he continuously sets the example to follow. Barack believes in persistence in all aspects of running the franchise, including sales, dedication to the community and fierce customer service. You won’t find a person who has a negative thing to say about him or his style of management.

A humble man, Barack doesn’t take credit for himself, but places a tremendous amount of credit for the Brahmas’ successes on his staff and to the men who have kept the franchise up and running for the last decade, Stuart Fraser and Andy Moog.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Barack graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in broadcast journalism. He worked in broadcasting, public relations and sales prior to his position with the Brahmas and has prior experience with several teams in the International and American Hockey Leagues including a championship ring with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL).

I spoke to Mike about his long history with the Brahmas organization and his hopes for the future of the franchise.

Q: How did your relationship with the Brahmas begin?

A: It actually happened unexpectedly. I had been doing broadcasting, public relations and sales for the Cincinnati Cyclones of then, the International Hockey League. It was in June of ’98 that the Brahmas, the new Brahmas, not the original Brahmas from the ‘97-98 season, contacted me. It was a new, in essence, startup franchise that Andy Moog had been granted. They were looking for someone who had a sales, marketing and hockey background. They hired a consultant who had been looking for someone with my kind of background. I was contacted and asked if I would be interested in running a professional hockey franchise. I had been involved with it for a long time but did not have a huge business background and my first answer to that was you know, I didn’t think I was qualified and I’m not sure if this would be something I’d be able to do. There was a dollar amount thrown at me and I said, well I guess I probably could probably give it a shot.

So, first, it was a really good financial opportunity for me and then secondly, based on the failure of the ’97-98 Brahmas and some of the teams that had gone out of business previously, I always make a joke that standards were low in terms of the expectations based on the checkered hockey history that had gone on at various different times in Fort Worth. There were some successes and there were teams that had gone out of business on multiple occasions and the first year Brahmas had difficulty, so I felt like it was a great challenge. It was something that, with my background, I probably could achieve some success. Fortunately, after 10 years, I’m still here. I feel we’ve made a lot of strides over the years. It’s been a great experience.

Q: What was your impression of the state of the Brahmas organization when you first came in?

A: When I first got there, there was no staff whatsoever. I came in and started from scratch. Basically in June, in late June, which is an almost impossible time to put together an organization. But immediately, fortunately, I was able to hire Dan Burgess, who was a very effective assistant general manager and excellent businessperson, and then a few salespeople right off the bat. We hired Naomi Deufriend, who’s still doing work with the Brahmas. She had been familiar with the hockey history in the Fort Worth area and also had done a lot of game operations and a lot of community programs.

It was a very fortunate situation that we were able to get a staff hired quickly and gained some sponsors right away. We established, right off the bat, a business parameter of generating revenue based on what we should be receiving dollar-wise for sponsorships and created promotions that would benefit the clients and customers. That was my background first and foremost. Then secondly was group ticket sales, getting scouts in churches and schools, those kinds of things. We established that right away.

Then also, I was able to take lots of community programs that we had done in Cincinnati, and brought those to our area. Those being the Healthy Goals program, which we’ve done for 10 years, the Blacktop Brahmas program which is similar to the Concrete Cones in Cincinnati, and also the Grades for Blades program which was established in the International Hockey League as well. All of these programs that I was able to bring down, we instituted right away and it was fortunate that I had that background. There were no programs of those sorts that had ever been done in the entire Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I’m really proud that we were able to start off with nothing and built a staff, built community programs and established a hockey business model that was going to be more successful than when I got there.

Q: You’ve had a lot of ups and downs with the teams’ performance over the years; was there ever a time that you considered leaving the franchise?

A: Not really. One of the things that people don’t realize is that it’s not all about winning and losing. It’s about maintaining a business and it’s affordable family entertainment. From the outset, we said that we would do everything right. From a legal standpoint, from salary cap to ethics to following the league guidelines for signing players that, say for example, had a history of injury problems and/or off the ice issues. In other words, we wanted to maintain integrity on and off the ice in what we did in terms of doing business.

Unfortunately, that at times over the years sacrificed some wins probably because as an organization, we might not sign a guy that would score 40 goals for whatever reason, based upon either the salary and/or a historical injury situation or because of off the ice issues that you know, other teams might take a chance on. So, that cost us at times, in terms of wins and losses but we also felt that we were always doing the right thing.

In every league meeting we go to, it’s about affordable family entertainment. It’s about putting on a good show and yeah, you want to win but the most important thing is bringing entertainment to your customers and the next thing is winning. The first thing is not about winning; it’s about integrity, affordable family entertainment and a good product. When I say a good product, that’s everything from game operations to the blimp to the music, to the entire experience a fan would have at a game and that’s the number one thing that we maintained all the way through.

So while there were some definite down times and definitely frustrating moments, we’ve had winning teams. We’ve had some winning teams at the beginning and obviously we established and won last year and generally with the same ownership group all the way through. We’re proud of the fact that we kept hockey here all the way through.

But to say that we weren’t discouraged about some of the seasons in terms of win/loss, you know, we were. That’s why a lot of people said why did you change coaches three of four times? Well the reason we changed is because we had a dedication to winning as well and wanting to find the right person to do that. We obviously struck gold with Dan, and unfortunately there were some down times as well with some of the decisions that were made. We made changes in the spirit of winning and putting together a better on-ice product.

Q: You had a remarkably difficult time in dealing with the city government in Fort Worth, especially in latter years. How happy are you to be away from that whole situation?

A: Well we’re thrilled to be where we’re at. The fact is that the City of North Richland Hills embraced us. There’s a huge difference between a lessee as opposed to being a partner. When you’re a leaseholder in a venue, which we were in Fort Worth, we were not the highest priority. In Fort Worth, the highest priority was conventions, Disney on Ice, the circus, and sports was not a high priority and that became evident as the years went on.

In the scenario where we’re at, the Brahmas are the highest priority. With premier dates, everything’s built around the Brahmas whereas before, everything was built around other events and they would squeeze the Brahmas in. So, from that standpoint, it’s just awesome where we’re at, and also from a demographic standpoint, we like where we’re at. There’s obviously the entire athletic community, the hockey community, the amateur hockey with the 10 Junior Brahma teams, the multiple house teams, the multiple adult teams, the junior hockey team that’s coming in, all of the ice skating, figure skating and all the events in the building. We’re in a hockey-friendly area. So, for all those reasons this has been a phenomenal move for us and I always like to say it’s a blessing. For whatever reason, it’s worked out for us, based on whatever issues we had in Fort Worth.

Q: At one point, after suspending operations for the 2006-07 season, you sat alone with the property of the franchise and served as the only employee. Was that a difficult time for you personally?

A: My wife and I would joke about it. I was able to work out every day, come home early and had a one-year hiatus of not a lot of work. I mean it was stressful in that there was never a certainty, 100%, that we were coming back or exactly what was going to happen.

We always felt that the former Blue Line facility would be purchased. We had multiple rumblings of it over that year. We knew that there was a very good chance of that happening. So because of that, we just were waiting like everybody, including the bank and the community for it to happen. The fact is that the City of North Richland Hills recognized that we were there and as a result they helped matters a little bit when it came down to pressing the bank to find owners for the facility, knowing that there was a really good likelihood that the Brahmas would move into that facility.

So, that’s what made that year a little bit easier, knowing that we weren’t giving up. We didn’t fold the franchise. All the time, we felt that we would be back. A lot of people were skeptical about that. We maintained the franchise based upon the fact that we were very confident that we would be able to come back.

Q: Were people doubtful about the feasibility of the NYTEX Sports Centre as a venue for the Brahmas?

A: One of the things that people thought, including Brad Treliving, who at the time was the president of the CHL, was that our situation would be like Austin’s scenario with the Chaparral Ice facility and pleasantly, most of the CHL representatives, fans and sponsors and new people coming into the building are pleasantly surprised because it’s not a skating rink. It’s just a unique venue that is conducive to both participatory sports as well as professional sports team. It’s a venue that’s got the feel for both and that’s what surprises people because there was a perception that this is going to be just an ice skating rink like they have in Austin and we can’t have another one of those. We’ve proven them wrong by just how nice it is and how it’s a good experience that people have when they’re in there. We’re thrilled with the venue and the sight lines and the enthusiasm of the crowd and so on and so forth.

Q: It seems that the NYTEX group has done well in bringing in additional attractions such as the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby and the indoor soccer that’s coming…

A: The Trazerra’s have been passionate; they continue to add. You know we’ve got the restaurant, Zuroma, which has been added to the mix. We’ve been pursued by a number of different sports leagues and entities. It’s very exciting to be tied in with the entire community. We had the Taste of the Northeast in the building, which was a good community event. It’s great! The motto this year is “Hometown Hockey”; that’s the catch phrase and you know, it is. It’s just an entire area that’s jumped on board here.

Q: Is Zuroma going to be open in time for the season opener?

A: Yeah, we expect it to be open. There’s been a few delays here and there. You’re talking about building out an entire restaurant, a patio situation, all of the permits that are needed in a short time, but yeah, we expect it to be open for not just the opening game, but the pre-season game as well.

Q: Were you at all surprised at the performance of Dan, Forbes and the team, not just at the beginning but especially after the slump in December and January and did you ever imagine that the team would have made it as far as they did after a one-year hiatus?

A: No, and the reason why is, I think it goes back to when, I mentioned earlier that we had made some decisions with the director of hockey operations over the years. When myself and Dr. Sal Trazzera and Frank Trazzera, when we were on the phone, we had a laundry list of candidates that we had narrowed down to five. Dan Wildfong was the fifth and final of those five candidates. When we did the phone interview and the face-to-face interview with Dan, it was amazing. Dan blew us away with his details as to how he was going to put together a winning franchise and it was by far, of any of the people that we had interviewed and/or had on board over all these years, it was by far the best.

Therefore, we really had high hopes because Dan had a game plan. And that game plan was three-fold. Number one, to put together a team that would compete for a championship. Number two, to bring players in that were phenomenal community people. In other words, a good percentage of Dan’s modus operandi of his recruiting is bringing in players that that have great character, on and off the ice, very good community people. And then lastly, his game plan for X’s and O’s. What he was going to do on the power play. What he was going to do with the penalty killing. The types of things that he does in practice that you know, quite frankly, were heads and shoulders above everybody that we had spoken with. We spoke to some very good candidates but Dan was by far, the best and when he came on and then added Forbes, who he had a long-standing relationship with, both on and off the ice, we felt very confident that we had some magic going and sure enough, it happened. So, not surprised at all based on our discussions and interviews with Dan all the way through.

Q: What do you have to say about the current ownership group and is this the best that you’ve seen the organization during your tenure as GM?

A: When looking back, going all the way through my tenure with the franchise, I want to say that in addition to Andy Moog, some people don’t give credit to Stuart Fraser for maintaining the franchise all during that time. He came in, in January or February of ’98 and literally he became an investor just simply by his love of hockey. I had sent him a business plan when we were looking for other investors and he liked what he saw and put some money in and at that time he was a minority owner. He’s become the majority owner over time. I believe that Stuart and Andy now, combined, are the longest-standing WPHL owners in term of tenure. Not CHL/WPHL combined but WPHL, at this point, Stuart and Andy are the longest standing tenured owners. They kept it going, win or lose, and Stuart put a lot of the money up with not making much. I just wanted to add that while I’ve been here, all the way through, you have two owners that have stayed with it all this time as well.

The influx of the Trazzera’s and the NYTEX group has been fantastic. It’s an injection of fresh blood, you know, enthusiasm and passion from their standpoint too. The whole mix – when you combine the new ownership of Sal and Frank Trazzera and the NYTEX group and their tie-in to the whole hockey community, tied in with our existing strong ownership group with Andy Moog and Stuart Fraser and then I feel like I’ve been involved with the business side this whole time to keep it going, I really think we have a great group. And then you add Dan and Forbes putting together a winning franchise on the ice, then it’s finally coming together, everything all at the same time. So, I feel really excited about the way things are going.

Q: I don’t think that many of the Brahmas fans know that much about Stuart Fraser…

A: And one of the reasons they don’t is because as he said, and will continue to say, he wishes he were here more often. When you consider that he’s the Vice-Chairman of the company that lost the most employees in the World Trade Center and all the things that happened after 9/11 and he still maintained the franchise. It’s amazing. I think people don’t recognize it (his contribution to the Brahmas franchise) because he’s not here a lot. But the appreciation should be there, because he’s kept it going year-in and year-out. Win or lose, he has been there.

Q: As a minority owner of the franchise, do you look at your role as general manager any differently?

A: No. I mean, my role has always been to protect the owners all the way through. In other words, my whole goal is keep it affordable family entertainment, keep the pricing right, maintain a good structure of business related to ticket sales, sponsorships sales, top-flight publications, if you notice, our game program, the ice logo is looking good, the dasher board is looking good. A positive business environment along with good customer service, that’s what I’ve always tried to do, and try to bring in revenue.

One thing though, again, is because of our move to the NYTEX Sports Centre, from a business standpoint, it’s a better business model than we had in Fort Worth even though there are fewer seats. It’s actually a way less expensive proposition on the expense side and while we may be limited to 2,400 seats for some nights, generally, our business model is better in this situation than it was in Fort Worth. From an ownership standpoint, I watch out for all the owners and everything in all aspects of the business but nothing’s changed. I still have as much caring as I did whether or not I had a percentage of the team.

Q: Does the prospect of the collective bargaining agreement being negotiated between the league and the PHPA give you any concerns?

A: The fact that there are discussions on it and the PHPA is in other leagues obviously changes the game a little bit but we’re very confident in the negotiating group representing the Central Hockey League. We’re not the NHL and we’re not the American Hockey League. We’ve always felt that we treat our players in great ways. It may be in terms of medical, in terms of the apartments, in terms of the hotel, in terms of leaving early for games, and it’s not major league salaries. We’re not in the major league. We feel that we treat them pretty well; very well. At the same time, it will be interesting to see what develops in the future on this. But right now, we’re focused on the season moving forward.

Q: The cost of diesel fuel has increased dramatically in the past year. What kind of impact has that had on your budget?

A: It just adds to the travel costs. If it’s not one thing, it always seems that there’s going to be something. If not fuel costs, it’s another cost going up in terms of whether it’s the hotel or the bus or whatever. That will add a little bit to our travel costs for sure but it’s just part of doing business as a professional sports team.

Q: Economic conditions in North Texas mirror that of the rest of the country. Do you think that the temporary economic downturn has hurt the organization in terms of securing sponsorships, advertising, ticket sales, etc?

A: Not at all. I kind of laugh about the “economic downturn”. Look at all the sports sponsors and ticket sales in the Metroplex for example. You’ve got the NFL, you know, the billion-dollar stadium with the Cowboys. You’ve got the Stars and the Mavs selling out games. You’ve got multiple minor league baseball teams being added, with Grand Prairie being added and you’ve got the Frisco Roughriders. You’ve got the soccer teams here and all the restaurants going into the area.

I think that we’re in a great, growing area in North Texas and the Northeast Tarrant County area. I see people jumping on board more than anything. Not, you know, any sort of economic downturn that’s hurting the team. If anything, it’s getting better, not worse. One of the things, even in an economic downturn, is that people will usually continue their entertainment spending, especially on something like the Brahmas with less expensive tickets and right in the neighborhood for a lot of people. I think it’s a slam-dunk in terms of entertainment value. I think we’re always going to be OK in terms of that, barring a complete, catastrophic economic downturn that affects everybody.

Q: Were you pleased to see the level of fan support that the team had during the past season?

A: Yes, and we still expect an increase. We did great in the second half of the season. We sold out several games and we expect to have an increased attendance this year. We were very happy with the support of the groups, the season-ticket holders, some of our Corporate Care sponsors – by the way, many of them came over from Fort Worth and stayed with us. For example, XTO, Burlington Northern, Quicksilver are examples of clients that had Corporate Care in Fort Worth and then joined us again in North Richland Hills. DFW Movers and Erectors, there’s four clients right there that basically continued their partnership with us in terms of our community program, Corporate Care. The level of support was fantastic but we know we can grow it further this year.

Q: Groundbreaking has taken place in Allen for the new Allen events center. It has been announced that the center will be the home of a new CHL franchise. In what ways do you think this will benefit the Texas Brahmas?

A: Well it’s going to be great. It’s going to give us a rival. It’s far enough away where we won’t be affected by sponsors and we won’t be affected by any overlap of fans. From an expense standpoint, from travel, that’s going to greatly reduce those costs and it’s going to be very exciting for the fans, our die-hard fans, to be able to cross the Metroplex and see the Brahmas. It’s only going to be a good thing. There were some issues from a territory standpoint, similar to the Colorado and Rocky Mountain situation that had to be worked out between the Brahmas, Global Entertainment and the Central Hockey league. We have been able to iron that out. Now both franchises are moving forward.

Q: What do you have to say to the fans about the upcoming season?

A: We have complete faith in Dan Wildfong and now Ron Vogel and also thanks to efforts that Forbes MacPherson during the time that he was here helping Dan recruit during the summer. We’re extremely confident about Dan and his crew to put together a winning franchise once again and Dan’s drive and determination to win a championship. That’s the ultimate goal for all of us. We’d love nothing but to be with the fans when we win a championship. That’s the beauty of having Dan Wildfong because Dan wants nothing less than a championship for the Brahmas. That’s something we can tell the fans and I think they saw it last year, that we have complete confidence in the person leading us on the ice and off the ice. With the current ownership group that we have and the staff we have in place, we’re excited about our off the ice activities as well.

Photo Credit: Fort Worth Business Press