Boston has become known as “The City of Champions” over the last 20 years. That doesn’t mean that championship cultures are not susceptible to bumps in the road or a complete reversal of that culture.
The Boston Bruins have been trending downward over the last few seasons but it all culminated at the end of this year. Now that it seems that the Bruins ownership and office have put their team and its fans in limbo, it’s hard to see a world where the Bruins draw much of a crowd if this continues.
The fans are mainly what drives the business of the NHL. They make their money off of ad revenue, attendance, and merchandise sales. all of that is nothing without fans. The actions of ownership and the front office in Boston make it clear. The Jacobs are only in this for the money, while that is why people go into business, they are forgetting that the product is the fans not so much the hockey.
It might be time for the Bruins fans to start showing the Jacobs that they aren’t going to spend their hard earned money on a team that they refuse to invest in. It’s time for the Jacobs to start valuing their investment before it gets worse. According to both statista.com and transfermarkt.us, the Bruins and the New England Revolution are about even in attendance numbers. The Revolution are coming off of a historic season in which they set the record for points by a team in a single season. their attendance should be trending upwards due to the expanding interest in soccer as the younger generations grow older and international stars are coming into the league to spend the twilight of their prime in the states. Pair that with the sudden emergence of big stars in the US soccer scene playing on big clubs in europe the beautiful game on grass could easily overtake the beautiful game on the ice.
The NBA went from a game that was on tape delay to a game that essentially OWNS christmas day. The same can be said for the NFL and Thanksgiving. The NHL has had numerous New Years day events and the Bruins have managed to grab some. If this trend of devaluing the Jacobs investment continues especially since the league itself is not as popular as both aforementioned leagues. If the Jacobs have no intent on making the team a true contender and are insistant on retaining spinelss yes-men, it’s time for them to sell the team.