Stars management is making a sacrifice.

Stars CEO Jim Lites and general manager Jim Nill have taken temporary 50% pay cuts retroactive to the NHL’s suspension on March 12 in an attempt to help alleviate financial stress on the organization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Jim and I feel a responsibility to be leaders of our team and our group,” Lites told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday. “[Owner Tom Gaglardi and his family] have been really good to us, they’ve always said yes to us on things we’ve needed to do to build the franchise. I feel a personal thanks to them, they’ve been really good to both of us.”

Nill said: “This situation we’re in is affecting everybody. There’s nobody going unscathed. I just think I’m fortunate enough at my age and where I’m at in my career to be able to help some other people out. First of all, Tom Gaglardi has been very supportive of me, given me all the tools I need to work with. I know that his parent company is going through a tough time. He’s in the hotel/restaurant business, and it’s been hit hard.

“So I know they’ve had to make sacrifices up there, and so can I help him out a little bit that way? And then for our organization. I know we’re making decisions on people, and by myself and Jimmy Lites making some sacrifices, does that help some other people down the food chain?”

With the NHL’s decision to suspend play during the global pandemic nearly two weeks ago, the Stars and teams across the league lost out on revenue that comes with games. A sharp decline in revenue could lead to salary reductions and layoffs by organizations, and Lites’ and Nill’s efforts can help offset that slightly.

“I’m fighting like hell to make sure we do as much as we can for all of our employees, because they have worked really hard,” Lites said. “We’ve had an unbelievable year, a good year on the ice and really good year building [off it].”

Lites and Nill follow Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse and general manager Jim Rutherford as executives taking pay cuts during the NHL’s pause. Lites and Nill said the decision was reached last week.

“When we realized where this was starting to go, we realized that this was probably going to be a little longer than we thought and people have to make choices,” Nill said. “Everybody’s getting affected by this”

Much like the rest of the country, the hockey world has been disrupted economically by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, ESPN reported that NHL employees will receive a temporary 25% salary reduction. The Canadiens announced temporary layoffs for 60% of their employees. On Wednesday, the Bruins announced temporary layoffs for 62 employees and indefinite salary reductions for 82 additional employees.

The NHL’s Devils and the NBA’s Sixers — both franchises are owned by Josh Harris — initially announced a 20% salary reduction for employees, but reversed course a day later after public backlash on the subject.

Most of the teams around the league have pledged to support part-time arena workers who would have lost income without NHL and NBA games at arenas across the country. The Stars and the American Airlines Center combined to pay workers as they normally would for the seven remaining Stars home games.

Stars president Brad Alberts said a decision on the rest of the season would affect the organization’s decision on staffing.

“I think it’s important for us to understand if we’re going to finish out the 2019-20 season or if we’re not,” Alberts said. “I think those have direct implications on staffing.”

At this point — less than two weeks into the league’s suspension and with NHL players advised to self-quarantine until April 6 — it is unknown if, when and in what form the league would resume play.

Would the league finish the regular season, a measure that would help bottom lines but could be constrained by time? Would the league expand the playoffs, which could help earn back revenue with added teams, games or rounds? Or is the season canceled entirely?

The Stars sit in third place in the Central Division, set to make the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 2008. Their attendance at the American Airlines Center (excluding the 85,630 who witnessed the Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl) ranks 12th in the league at 18,347.

Lites is in his third stint with the Stars, and has served as the team’s CEO since November 2011. Nill has been the team’s general manager since April 2013, and is in his seventh season directing hockey operations.

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