The Boston Bruins get it!

Onlypsahockey

Great full page ad in todays Boston Globe sports section from the Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs to their fanbase.


Full page photo of a very very happy young Bruins fan with text to the right:


WE PROMISE.

We promise to make you a hero in your child's eyes at his first Bruins game. We promise to make your heart pound as you count down the final seconds of play. We promise to give you a good reason to scream at the top of your lungs. We promise to make you proud to be part of a grand tradition. We promise to welcome you back with open arms. We promise to take you on a journey to meet a distinguished gentleman named Lord Stanley. We Promise to make your experience one you will remember for a lifetime. We promise to thank you for being part of the greatest team in the world.

We know what's important - tradition, team spirit, community and championships. For more than 80 years the Boston Bruins have been part of this community, showing the world that a group of athletes as different as night and day can come together as a team and make magic on the ice. Th Boston Bruins brand of hockey is something special - and today, we are happy to bring back to Boston a new brand of hockey, combining the traditions of the game with a renewed excitement for a new generation of fans.

On behalf of the entire Boston Bruins organization, thank you, and let me be the first to say , welcome back. - Jeremy Jacobs


Okay, I know, we never left in the first place...they did. I also know not so enthusiastic fans will view this as BS propaganda just trying to get our cash back into their pockets.

But I choose to look at it this way. They get it! They screwed up and they owe us one. Ready? Here it is: (taken from Kevin Paul Dupont's article in todays globe.)...the club is fine tuning what will be an across the board drop in ticket prices. There will be a load of $10.00 seats (a price not offered at a Bruins game since 1987) available for every game, and up through Thanksgiving children 12 and under will be admitted free. The club also plans to offer family packages to games post Thanksgiving.... The Bruins have held on to season ticket holders to the tune of 92%...by paying them 7.7% on their deposits for the first seven months and boosting it to 15% on May 1st.....Jacobs said, as Al Davis put it so appropriately two decades ago, "The best marketing attraction we'll have will be the quality of our players. Nothing matters if we don't sign players and there are some big names out there - Eric Lindros, Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Paul Kariya,Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski. The Bruins will start hashing out deals with Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, Glenn Murray, Martin LaPointe & Sergei Gonchar this coming week.

Well guys sorry this was so long but I think the Bruins can lead the NHL out of this near catastrophy by example. I for one am glad to see the campaign to win back fans and put a quality product on the ice. I just hope the rest of the league follows suit.

JMO, Bob

Axtell

Well let's see how long it lasts.

I remember baseball doing similar things after the strike ended the 94 season....players being congenial to its fans, ticket prices, etc.

There are a lot of fans who have been stung very deeply by the loss of the season, and while this is a great first move, expect a lot of skepticism on the part of fans. Hopefully this move gets a lot of casual fans into the seats.

denwd1

the only "promises" the NHL can make is that they will over pay players you never heard of on teams you never heard of.

baseballfanatic

I dont know. The players gave up a lot (compared to the other player unions). It was a lockout and not a strike. Sure they are overpaid, as any professional athlete is, but hockey was the only true game left in its original format. Lets come back from the worst player-owner confrontation in sports history, put players back on the ice whom alot of havent skated in a year, take out the redline, and put more fans in seats so they can see a 23-19 game rather than a 3-2 "boring" game. Dont make sense to me.......

1420sports

It's hockey ... so who cares anyway.

Onlypsahockey

I do!

Bob

Axtell

<< <i>I dont know. The players gave up a lot (compared to the other player unions). It was a lockout and not a strike. Sure they are overpaid, as any professional athlete is, but hockey was the only true game left in its original format. Lets come back from the worst player-owner confrontation in sports history, put players back on the ice whom alot of havent skated in a year, take out the redline, and put more fans in seats so they can see a 23-19 game rather than a 3-2 "boring" game. Dont make sense to me....... >>



I read and reread this post a couple times.

How is baseball not in its original format? Short of the DH, baseball is essentially played the same way as it has been forever. Of course now there are more home runs hit, but a ball hit over the wall is still a home run.

Football is different? How so?

Basketball is the only major sport I can think of that's been radically altered (the addition of the 3-point line), but it's still essentially the same game.

And how do you get to 23-19 from 3-2?

I think the elimination of ties is a good thing for increasing popularity. A majority of fans in this country can't deal with ties (look at the 'outrage' the MLB all star game resulted in when it tied). Most sports fans *need* to have a winner to enjoy a sport.

stevek

My take on the hockey situation: Remember during the last baseball strike, how fans were outraged, p*ssed off, etc? A number of fans were mad and said they weren't going to ever attend another MLB game, etc. I wasn't one of those fans who said that but there were many and I respected their anger. Of course, just like a woman you truly love, sometimes you say you're gonna leave her, but you never do. Most if not virtually all of those baseball fans came back. I didn't see the anger, the outrage, etc., with many hockey fans - I think that may be a bad sign for the NHL. The NHL will survive, but not sure if every team will.

ctsoxfan

I think it's a nice gesture - but let's face it, if they did nothing - the already small fan base for hockey would take a long time to forgive both sides for the long strike. It sounds great on the surface, but they are simply clinging to what little life they have left with the US audience...

baseballfanatic

Baseball. Lets see besides the DH which is so ridiculous only 1/2 of the teams use it, altering the strike zone, lowering the mound etc etc
Football. Moving the goal posts. Not advancing the ball on a fumble. Changing penalties from 15 to 10 yards. No head slaps, no WR's blocking below the knees. Overtime. etc etc

The point I was trying to make was that this was basically the same game since its inception, and like all the sports before it, want to change the game to put more butts in the seats by increasing the offense that all owners perceive people want to see. Taking out the redline which eliminates almost every two line pass will lead to defensemen skating to the point of doing line changes every 30 seconds. Baseball should have been ticked at the All Star game tie. Football and hockey have had ties and it is (was) part of the game. Baseball has always been played until there was a winner...