Cam might be President, but Charlie is still in charge

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jun 16, 2010 7:57 PM EDT

Boston Bruins legend and Hall of Famer Cam Neely was introduced today as the team's new President. Neely will be the eighth man in club history to hold the post. According to Bruins Principal Charlie Jacobs, "both hockey operations and business [operations] will be reporting to Cam." The junior Jacobs also added immediately after the previous statement, "My role in the organization will not be changing. Moving forward I will continue to serve as the club’s Principal."

While having #8 in the corner office as President of the team will give some fans a nice warm fuzzy feeling, let's be honest, not much has changed. This was a calculated move to try to win back some fans. Obviously Neely will have some decision-making powers, but at the end of the day this team is still being run by the same old guard. Charlie Jacobs will be making the business decisions while his old man is counting his money in Buffalo and Harry Sinden is doing whatever it is that he does nowadays.

I expect Neely to have a significant role in hockey operations, but I doubt he will have much say on the business end of things. Think about it. Jeremy Jacobs is a shrewd businessman (love him or hate him, you have to admit that). He is not going to hand over the keys to his family business to a guy with very little business experience and a high school education.

One of the problems I see with the new organization structure of the Bruins is that nobody really seems to know what the structure is. Neely's role does not seem clearly defined. We have heard Charlie Jacobs say that everyone is reporting to Cam, but everyone in the organization (including the Owner, Principal, and newly-appointed President) seem a little confused about what his role will be.

Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Cam Neely were both guests on Felger & Massarotti on 98.5 The Sports Hub this afternoon. When asked if Claude Julien and Peter Chiarelli would ultimately be reporting to Neely, Jacobs' stammering answer didn't instill to me that Cam has much more power than he did yesterday at this time. Cam was asked during his interview if it "was his show". Neely responded by saying, "Well as far as I know from ownership everything runs through the President's office so I would assume that that's part of it". That doesn't sound like a man who has a clear grasp of the expectations and duties of the position has has just accepted.

I hope Cam Neely is more than a figurehead and he gets to make some important decisions about this franchise, but I just don't see that happening while Charlie Jacobs is still in Boston on a day-to-day basis and Harry Sinden is still wandering aimlessly throughout the hallways of TD garden.

Check out full audio from Jeremy Jacobs and Cam Neely on Felger & Mazz:

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Comments

Most presidents have to answer to a Board of Directors or shareholders or the like.

You should make a tag for stories like this and Gold Out the Garden and the like. “Still Pessimistic” or something.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 16, 2010 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

I will do that right after you post all your stuff with “still a cheerleader” and “still an apologist”.

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Helping of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jun 16, 2010 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I figured the “edmonton media plot” one was maybe more apologist but I’ll change it if you want.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 16, 2010 8:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I actually liked the Edmonton media post.

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Helping of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jun 16, 2010 8:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks, I had fun writing it.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 16, 2010 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions

so neely having nothing to do with the business side of things…

im ok with that, jacobs can handle business ops, you hAVe to admit, the gahden and the b’s have had a good handle on the business side of things…. having neely and PC handle hockey operations solely will help this team exponentially.

by BlueNGoldBomber on Jun 16, 2010 11:30 PM EDT reply actions

Well, they do say the business ops report to him, so it’s not like he has nothing to do with it.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions

I think the only reason the Jacob’s want a cup is to sell more tickets, shirts,nasty$7 drafties and pajamas.
Neely on the other hand, and even Harry for that matter, want the cup for all the right reasons.
As long as the Jacob’s lets PC spend to the cap and gives him the money to make sure there is hot water in the whirlpool, I could care less about anything they have to say.

by SkateHitShoot on Jun 17, 2010 10:22 AM EDT reply actions

just my opinion

The Jacobs are so damn rich they don’t even need the Bruins (they’ve got NESN, the Garden and all those other successful assets). That’s what makes this ownership situation that much worse. They do a good job of promoting the team, but have very little desire or hunger to have a perennial Cup contending team…..

and like you said, the only reason they’d want a team like that is for more $$$$. Let’s face it, the Bruins could tank for decades and there would still be a solid fan base. They’ll always make cash off the B’s. Kind of sucks knowing that they will never sell the team, since they’ll probably always make money off them.

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree.
And depending on how the this summer shakes out, at least they have the chance of becoming a perennial contender. Which is all that matters to me!

by SkateHitShoot on Jun 17, 2010 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Is this really true?

I’m up here in Toronto, and the perception here is that Boston is a place where the fans only come out when the Bruins are winning. Here in Toronto they up ticket prices every year and the corporations continue to fill the building year after year no matter how much they lose.

All this buttoning and unbuttoning

by Marttisdad on Jun 17, 2010 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions

The Bruins die hard fan base is at least as big as the Celtics Red Sox or Patriots. And judging from the TV they have a much larger fan base than the Blue Jays.
When the Bruins suck they won’t fill the building but they still sell plenty of tickets. With the other three pro sports teams in town always in the playoffs the Bruins have to do well in order to get the “pink hats” to show up.

by SkateHitShoot on Jun 17, 2010 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions

i hate making cross-sport comparisons, but....

look at the Chicago Cubs. They suck ass, but still manage to get a good crowd at every game. That’s almost what the Bruins fan situation is like. Win or lose, they’ll attend the games (just not in droves when they suck)

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

This is true.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Not like florida levels of attendance but they don’t fill the building every night for sure

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

But still make plenty of money!

by SkateHitShoot on Jun 17, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

the bruins probably don’t, but it’s common practice to have the team lose money (so it doesn’t pay into the league) and the building does

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions

It all goes to the same place. Which is the problem, actually.

by Arenacale on Jun 17, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

and remember……he owns the TD Garden, which means the Celtics, musicians, hell— even the damn Circus has to pay the Jacobs some serious coin.

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions

And delaware north, the concessions company

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

it allows for inventive bookkeeping.

Every Hollywood movie loses money, but studios keep getting rich…

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m up here in Toronto, and the perception here is that Boston is a place where the fans only come out when the Bruins are winning. Here in Toronto they up ticket prices every year and the corporations continue to fill the building year after year no matter how much they lose.

well i’m sure you could make the same point about many other teams as well. as with anywhere, more people will go to games the better the team is doing. however, almost all of the original six have a solid fan foundation.

plus, you’re talking about the Leafs….that’s like saying “the yankees sell out even when they’re doing bad”.

what i’m getting at is, if your hockey team is based in Canada you can (usually) do no wrong.

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions

The Blackhawks had an average attendance of 13,253 in 2004, when they didn’t have anyone good and the games weren’t on TV.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions

i'm assuming you're agreeing with me here, then

because 13k is a pretty solid number for a team that was as useless as they were in 04

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Chicago

Is also home to about 2 million more people in it’s immediate metro area, so there’s a much larger pool to draw from/

by Arenacale on Jun 17, 2010 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Considering the building holds 22,428, no it’s not.

Especially for an Original Six team.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions

13K for any length of time would be bad for anyone.
But I don’t think that’s a bad fan base for a terrible team in the US.

by SkateHitShoot on Jun 17, 2010 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions

i typically thought anything over (roughly) 11-12k or so is breaking even (.

guess i’m wrong. that’s what i get for not looking into this a bit more.

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh I totally agree.

In fact, I like thinking that Bruins fans are tough on their team and force management to win.

True Canadian Leaf Fans hate that the building here is always full, because the true fans can’t afford the damn tickets.

Anyways, I’m a Bruins fan anyways.

All this buttoning and unbuttoning

by Marttisdad on Jun 17, 2010 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I like thinking that Bruins fans are tough on their team and force management to win.

So the fans since 72 haven’t been hard enough on management?

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh I hear ya

Doesn’t mean management is smart enough to win :)

All this buttoning and unbuttoning

by Marttisdad on Jun 17, 2010 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Takes a fair bit of luck, too.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Indeed,

I like the Bruins 4 years from now. An impact player this year, some depth in the 15 pick and the 2nd round picks, and then hopefully another impact player next year. 4 years from now, I hope the Bruins are busy making their own luck!

All this buttoning and unbuttoning

by Marttisdad on Jun 17, 2010 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions

4 years from now, Seguin won’t be on his ELC anymore. Max of 3 years.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jun 17, 2010 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Charlie Jacobs

Is really the lynchpin in all of this. If he’s handling day-to-day operations of the team, and Jeremy is really now just chilling in Buffalo, then he could make a difference by staying rather hands-off the hockey side of things and letting Cam have some direction there. That’s where the positives could really start to show. But, if he’s going to Al Davis the thing and prevent player and personnel moves based on finances, then really nothing’s changed but the title.

I sincerely hope Charlie has seen what happened in Chicago this year. He could become a hero in Boston (and make his dad some nice extra coin) if he plays his cards right. The question is will he.

by Arenacale on Jun 17, 2010 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

excellent and i mean EXCELLENT use of the Duck Tails jpeg…….

speaking of which, did you ever play the Duck Tales video game (called “QuackShot”) for Sega or Nintendo as a kid? That game was my life for a while

by delta on Jun 17, 2010 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Nope, but the TV show was on constantly as a kid. That and my dad bought me a Scrooge McDuck comic book from Sands on West Broadway in Southie before I got blood drawn at the doctor’s when I was like 4.

by Arenacale on Jun 17, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions