Boston Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs Suing Yosemite
Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs has dropped the gloves with Yosemite National Park. The result could be that iconic hotels and other beloved landmarks at the park will soon be forced to undergo a name change in a multi-million dollar donnybrook over who owns the rights to the original names.
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The Ahwahnee, a luxurious stone and timber hotel with breathtaking views of the park’s granite peaks, will now be called the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Curry Village, a family friendly lodging complex, will be recast as Half Dome Village.
These name changes, plus others announced Thursday aren’t going over too well, but the National Park Service says they have to make them, at least temporarily, to ensure that visitors taking in Yosemite’s natural wonders don’t have their experience spoiled as Jacobs and the Park Service scrap in the legal corners. Jacobs is worth four billion dollars and is in the top half of the Forbes 400 ( a listing of the nation’s wealthiest people.)
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Much of this might stem from the fact that Delaware North recently lost a $2 billion bid — the National Park Services largest single contract — to run the park’s hotels, restaurants and outdoor activities that draw visitors from around the globe. In 2014, over 4,000,000 people went to the parks. That’s an awful lot of overpriced soda and watered down beer that can be sold.
Mr. Jacobs and Delaware North are demanding to be paid $51 million for the names and other intellectual property. $51 million is a lot of money, obviously, and that could be used to trade for and sign someone like Steven Stamkos. The Buffalo-based firm filed a lawsuit last year, saying that when it won the contract back in 1993, the park service required the company to buy the former concessionaire’s assets.
The park service says it belatedly learned of that Delaware North had applied for the trademarks on Yosemite names when it prepared to open bids for the concessions operation. Yosemite awarded a 15-year contract to Aramark last year. The contract – the largest single concession contract in the NPS – is expected to begin on March 1, 2016, and will include overnight accommodations, food and beverage operations, retail sales, fuel sales, bike and raft rentals, and a variety of other recreational activities throughout the park.
Justice Department attorney John Robertson wrote in court papers that Delaware North “wildly inflated” the value of the trademark names at $51 million. He added that Delaware North has “breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing,” a claim the company denies.
Delaware North also runs concessions at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and has a trademark application active for “Space Shuttle Atlantis,” government court papers say. Delaware North “apparently embarked on a business model whereby it collects trademarks to the names of iconic property owned by the United States,” Robertson wrote.
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Delaware North also handles concessions at venues such as Ralph Wilson Stadium, and Roger Dean Stadium. One can only wonder if these concession contracts ever go to another company how the discussions might go when Jacobs tells the Wilson and Dean families that he is taking over control of their names, and they can buy them back!