Butch_Stearns's Blog

It is Jacobs building and within his rights to sell ads to whomever but it is LOW CLASS. The reasons the tickets were available to Montreal Fans is Bruins fans are still waiting for the Bruins orgainization to show they want to win, not count dollars. I was a season ticket holder for 20+ years and gave them up when Jacobs and Sinden were more concerned with saving money then putting a good product on the ice. It looks like they may be on the right track with the young players they have now, but it is going to take more of an effort PR-wise to get the place full again, and selling out to Les Habs is NOT the way to do it!

It shows you that the most important thing about Pro sports is a fat bottom line not the success of the team on the field, court or ice.

As far as the other teams, each one has a postition within there staffs to create non traditional revenue streams. enough said

I'm as critical of Jacobs as anybody, but I wonder if he really had a say in the matter. Both Bruins home games were broadcast nationally on the CBC in Canada, with no national network in the U.S. picking up the game. During NBC games in the US, a handful of ads are swapped in to accomodate national advertisers. Is it possible that the NHL's contract with the CBC allows a handful of Canadian ads to be put on the boards during games that are televised nationally in Canada, but not in the U.S.? If that's the case, Jacobs might not have had a choice.

Butch,

First off, unless you are talking about the Montreal franchise, "Canadian" is the word you are looking for.

Hockey is more Canadian than America. Historically, that is just the way it is.

Would there have been ads for Canadian-based companies back in the glory days of the Boston-Montreal rivalry? No. But that is due to the fact that for decades, no ads ever appeared on the boards.

Who cares? The players come from all over the world. It's not like they grew up hating Montreal's hockey team. How many fans, players, coaches, etc. even noticed the ad or knew what it meant? And even if they knew what the ads meant...what difference does it make?

Sorry, man I usually agree with you but I think you are making a big stink out of something that isn't even worth mentioning. Maybe you should be complaining that the B's can barely (or in the case of Game 4, never) get the puck in the back of the net.

The bottom line is the Jeremy Jacobs has been one of the least productive owners in Boston sports and we the fans have had enough. The product on the ice stinks. Harsh words but despite their best efforts this team is average at best. When the Bruins put a product on the ice that is worthy of support the Boston sports fans will return.

Butchy!

I am 100% with you on this one. While I understand it is the right of the Bruins organization to sell ad space to whomever they wish, it is appaling to me that a Montreal radio station and Pizza Restaurant were advertised on the boards in Boston. I think it's a pathetic slight towards local loyalty and pride. I highly doubt we are going to see the Greatest Bar or WEEI advertised in Montreal tonight and if we were Montreal fans would be just as appalled. I have never seen this happen before.......

As for the sponsorship on the Boston Garden, the Bank has a local presence through asquisitions it made so that argument is invalid. It's the same with Air Canada, local presence.

What did bother me most however was the sad state of affairs the Bruins are in. The two games played here might as well been in Montreal. I know the popularity of hockey may be down overall in the US however if the Bruins just put a good product on the ice, spent the money, showed commitment to Boston and stop alleniating the fans, we would be there in full force. There are a lot of us who have given up (former season ticket holder) however would come back if they just showed that the fans mean something to the Organization. ala, Red Sox, Celtics, and especially the Patriots.

First, to the folks commenting on Butch's spelling/grammar...go back and read your own posts very carefully. If you are going to talk about someone else's spelling/grammar, you better make sure yours is impeccable.

As far as the Bruins: If he wants the maximum revenue to fatten his pockets and he was smart, he would start by putting a quality team out there and the money would magically appear. When you know a person is all about money, you can't expect that morals or loyalty are going to be present. He has shown what he is and he is not sorry about it. The reason you won't see this at Fenway or Gillette Stadium is because those owners have achieved a level of fan loyalty and revenue that they would not risk upsetting. Red Sox and Patriots fans would not let that slide EVER. The Bruins are going to need a new owner (like the Red Sox did) before they can be returned to the golden days they once enjoyed.

Great stuff guys and gals.

Who cares?

I'll take any kind of currency to sign Marian Hossa in the offseason.

I was at game six on Saturday, and the Bruins fans vastly outnumbered Candadien fans. The atmosphere throughout the whole game, and particularly the third period was phenomenal. Claude Julien should get Coach of the Year for the job he's done with this team, a team that was picked to be one of the worst in the league, and has pushed the East's best team to a game 7. The work ethic of this team is and will continue to win fans. The problem is that hockey has not received a lot of national exposure, and when you have a network like NESN deciding to broadcast a meaningless spring Sox-Yankees on its flagship station and relegating a do or die Bruins playoff game to NESN plus, you lose a lot of opportunities to attract fans.