Continuing the Bruins Transformation

Pat offered some impressive ideas to help revitalize the Bruins to the New England community. I definitely agree with some of his ideas and want to discuss these bullet points further.

1. Change uniforms. There is nothing exciting about their uniforms. Also, when you change uni's, you open up another opportunity to generate revenue on sales of new sports gear.

Response: One of the problems of late is the Bruins have been changing their uniform designs almost too much. They have a jersey for home, for the road and for games against the Original Six. I believe fans just want some consistency with the jerseys.

2. Freeze 2nd-tier pricing. The people that can't afford to go are the people paying $20/seat, not $150.

Response: I totally agree with Pat on this one. I don’t know how much the Bruins pay to lease the Garden, but they need to keep the third-tier seats low to convince families and hopefully, a new generation of fans, to regularly attend the games.

3. Market the personality of the team. Inject the players into funny commercials that play during morning & evening local newscasts.

Response: Since there are a lot of new executives within the organization, I really hope they infuse a lot of time and energy into marketing the team. I was told a while back, onside counsel recommended the Bruins send players to firehouses around the city on Sept. 11 to thank the fire fighters for all the work they do. The players would give out some tickets, sign some autographs and say thanks. The media would not be invited to make this look a little more genuine. The Bruins front office balked at this idea and I forget the reason why. This would have been a perfect way to connect with the community.

The Bruins did a great job last year securing media coverage. They had articles in the Boston Sunday Magazine and ESPN Magazine. They also showed those Dennis Leary commercials every five seconds.

The Bruins don’t need more media coverage; they need to get their players out in the community so they are more visible. When is the last time you went out in the city and saw or recognized a Bruins player? I never hear of these guys going to charity events or just out in the city. This needs to change.

4. Make the front of the Banknorth Garden more inviting. Hold public events out front on game night. Right now, it seems cold and closed off to the public - you can't even enter the building from the front, only the sides. Huge, huge mistake. The Sox do a great job of this, creating a festive atmosphere before gametime.

Response: Pat, this idea was, by far, the best one you came up with. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this. Here is what the Garden needs to do to clean up the area:
· Move the scalpers away from the entrance. I have no problem if they sell tickets, but move them to the side.
· Open up the parking lot in front of the Garden, like Pat said, to create a hockey fanfest. I would be shocked if a company wouldn’t want to sponsor something like this. People attending the game would see the company’s branding as well as the people catching the trains at North Station.