Slap Shot: Comments by Bruins Owner Reflect Bitterness of Lockout

BOSTON — In a remarkable news conference before Saturday's opening night game between the Bruins and the Rangers, Jeremy Jacobs, the Bruins owner and the chairman of the N.H.L. Board of Governors, gave his first extensive public comments on the recently concluded lockout.

He blamed the players' association for the four-month impasse.

[A full transcript of Jacobs's statements at the news conference appears below.]

Jacobs began by reading a prepared statement apologizing for the lockout, but the statement included a veiled criticism of the union.

"I wanted nothing more than to have the season start in October," Jacobs said in the statement. "Make no mistake – it should have."

Asked why he thought a settlement wasn't reached in October, Jacobs said, "You'd really have to ask the other side that," adding, "there was no expression of desire to make a deal."

Jacobs acknowledged that the players emerged from the lockout unified, but refused to give credit to Donald Fehr, the union's executive director.

"I'm not going to give him credit for anything," Jacobs said of Fehr.

Jacobs's surprisingly candid comments revived the bitterness of the lockout, after the league's efforts to put it in the past.

Jacobs and Commissioner Gary Bettman issued public apologies for the stoppage two weeks ago without making any specific comments on the settlement, and on Thursday the league took out full-page newspaper ads in N.H.L. cities, apologizing again, while looking ahead to the start of the season. At Saturday's season openers, no messages were written on the ice reminding fans of the lockout, a contrast to the return to play after the 2004-5 lockout, when the N.H.L. ordered "Thank you fans" painted on the ice at each league rink.

But on Saturday, in addition to his remarks criticizing the union, Jacobs said there were "a ton" of elements in the new collective bargaining agreement that could lead to another lockout 8 to 10 years from now. He also described the problems of Southern teams as endemic, discussed how it feels to be "vilified" and agreed that the lockout has "done damage" to the N.H.L.

And Jacobs asserted that the offer the owners made in October was very similar to the one the players ultimately accepted. Most reporters who followed the lockout say the owners moved significantly from that October offer.

Below, the full transcript of Jeremy Jacobs's remarks at the news conference. Jacobs's son Charlie, a Bruins alternate governor, also spoke at the news conference, but for the sake of brevity only Jeremy Jacobs's comments are included.

Jeremy Jacobs's Opening Statement:
Last week we announced that we reached an agreement on a new C.B.A., and tonight the Bruins are back on the ice. When the puck drops, we put the last four months behind us and celebrate the return of hockey on Causeway Street. Like all of you, I wanted nothing more than to have the season start on time in October. Make no mistake – it should have, and it could have.
The fact that we were unable to reach agreement until just recently is truly a disappointment. I want to personally apologize to our fans, and others who depend on this team for their livelihood. But these are just words. The best way for us to make it up to you is to play hard Bruins hockey, and to win. I said last year after our playoff exit that the Stanley Cup is on loan, and I really meant it. We have a strong team, and one that I believe will be very competitive this season. I expect us to contend for the Cup. We have 48 games in 96 days before the playoffs. It is no longer a marathon. It is a sprint. We have a real advantage. We know how to win. I remember asking the players the year before we won the Cup, how many were wearing a Stanley Cup ring, how many had won the Stanley Cup, and I think two of them put up their hands. Last year, I asked the same questions, and everybody in the room raised their hand. I'd love to see that again. We want this for our team.
I can think of no better way to bring our team back together than to focus on our shared goal of winning another Stanley Cup for Boston, New England and all Bruins fans around the world. With that, I'd be happy to take any questions.
On whether he feels he had to mend fences with Bruins players after the lockout.
JEREMY JACOBS: I just spoke with the players, and I didn't get any of that. I didn't feel any of that. Maybe I will in the future, but I don't see it. To just explain a little more, I think it was last Sunday the agreement was approved. I mean, getting to talk to the players at this point wasn't available to me or anybody.
On whether he regrets the owners' initial proposal, which many found extremely aggressive.
JEREMY JACOBS: I can't comment on that. I really don't know. I know that prior to the opening and trying to save an 82-game season, the same offer was pretty much substantially made that was agreed upon last week.
On why a deal wasn't made in October.
JEREMY JACOBS: You'd really have to ask the other side that.
On why he believes that the owners' October offer and the offer that was agreed upon are similar.
JEREMY JACOBS: I think really, if you look at it, it gave a chance for — there was no expression of desire to make a deal, to move forward. A lot of this was peripheral issues that you're talking about. I don't disagree. That's not 100 percent what you're saying, but if somebody wanted to make a deal they could have made a deal.
On whether the owners were prepared to negotiate on it.
JEREMY JACOBS: Yeah, yeah, we were ready. If somebody doesn't engage you, you don't offer.
On why Jacobs and other owners were absent from the final round of negotiations, which resulted in a deal.
JEREMY JACOBS: It was apparent to us that the owners added nothing to it. The commissioner knew what parameters were acceptable and moved in that direction. There was some real owner frustration that really wouldn't have helped the situation at all.
On whether being absent from the final round of talks was a joint decision made with Bettman.
JEREMY JACOBS: Gary did direct the ship. Believe me, he directed it.
On how he felt Bettman did over all in the whole process.
JEREMY JACOBS: Well, I work with him and I'm a big fan, so maybe I'm the wrong guy to ask. There's a lot of speculation on him, but I haven't found anybody who understood this process better than he did and saw more clearly what was happening. And until the deal was ready to be made nothing was going to happen, so we could have kept dancing in all different directions.
On whether they were ready to scrap the entire season.
JEREMY JACOBS: Oh, I think that if it hadn't happened when it did, I think the whole season would have been gone. Nobody was going to walk from this until there was no hope for a season.
On whether he feels the new C.B.A. helps problem franchises and the health of the league.
JEREMY JACOBS: I think we're going to see haves and have-nots. We've seen some franchises in certain areas really do terrifically, then fall apart. Hopefully we won't see a lot of that. If you step back and look at where we were eight years ago, we put together something that hadn't happened in flavor and that was we had an agreement that was based on a percentage, and as you've seen since then other leagues have followed with some success. That was definitely the right direction, and that was the right composition. The numbers were wrong, we just got the numbers wrong. We believe we have the numbers right now, and it took a lot, and it was very expensive to all of us getting them there.
On being vilified for the lockout.
JEREMY JACOBS: First of all, you're not in a position when you're going through all of this to defend yourself. It really is not constructive to the process. I'm coming off winning a Stanley Cup. I've got a sold-out building. I have a financially sound business. No debt. Ownership for 37 years. I'm the last guy that wants to shut this down – absolutely the last one out there. There's a couple of Canadian teams – I'm not going to name them – that irrespective are going to be very successful. But this is a very successful franchise. I don't want this to shut down. Unfortunately, I play in a league with 30 teams. And when I step back and look at what's going on with the broadest sense of the league, I've got to play a role constructively in that way. My selfish interest was definitely to keep this going within the parameters of the deal that was out there. But it doesn't make sense for the league long term. We have a lot of people tired of this. A lot of people were promised that we'd try and right-size this, and I had to play a tole in it. From a leadership standpoint, I think I had to play a role. To be vilified, I don't think it's right, but what's my opinion in something like that?
On losing goodwill from the community.
JEREMY JACOBS: Oh yeah. That's one of the things you put at risk when you do something like this.
On how long it would take for the league to return to the $3.3 billion it earned in revenue in 2011-12.
JEREMY JACOBS: I'm an optimist on that. I think it'll be next year. I really do. I think that has got the resiliency. People really, really love this game. But I'm sitting here in Boston, where it's an institution, it's in the fabric of the community. They may call me an owner; I'm more of a custodian. This belongs to the community. This community is hockey, it's what it's about. But we do have a broad responsibility to the league at large, and I take that seriously. I think it's important to us, the health of this league, and the health of this game. But I think we'll be back there. The guys that were hurt are the guys that were hurting already. I think they got hurt most. I think the teams that have been suffering over time hurt a great deal here. I can point to teams in some jurisdictions that have sold out and then, when they start losing, boom, they've lost their fan base right off the bat. Hockey in Boston is very, very, very important. I love playing that role.
On whether he will confirm reporters' impressions at this news conference, that he is blaming the N.H.L. Players' Association for the lockout.
JEREMY JACOBS: I won't comment on that.
On how long he and Bettman will remain in their leadership positions.
JEREMY JACOBS: I think Gary will stay as commissioner. I'm 73 next week. I'm going to stick around for as long as they want me from that standpoint, but I can see them wanting to get a fresher mind than mine.
On potential successors to him as chairman of the N.H.L. Board of Governors.
JEREMY JACOBS: Oh god, I think there's a number out there, but I think it'd be wrong for me to name them.
On the loyalty of the Boston fan base through the years.
JEREMY JACOBS: I'm getting real sick of watching reruns. My wife is getting very sick of my sitting around being very sick of watching reruns. Getting hockey going, I think that's very New England, very much Bruins. We want this game on.
On whether three lockouts in two decades has done permanent damage to the N.H.L. brand.
JEREMY JACOBS: Not permanently, but I think that we've done damage. Some of these lockouts make no sense. We really try and make this work. You always lose people in these environments. Let me talk about the players' association, let me talk about league situations, and let me make this observation: nobody won. But more importantly, nobody lost at this point. If I won and they lost, then we both lost. If they won and we lost, then we both lost. This is a game, and we did hurt the game. We didn't just hurt Boston. We hurt the game of hockey. I fell that after 37 years, I've got some vested interest in seeing this game survive and thrive. There's no doubt this game has thrived with Gary Bettman as commissioner. He's moved it. He moves it every year. He's brought new technologies, new ideas to it. He's probably brought a little bit of an abrasive personality with him. Not everybody loves him. And that's understood. But he's done a yeoman's job and worked his butt off. You can't outwork Gary. And for that, I'm very happy that he was there. This agreement would not have gotten done without Gary there.
On the emotions going into opening night.
JEREMY JACOBS: When October comes around there was tremendous withdrawal and nothing seemed quite right. And this kind of perception after 37 years of this, I had learned to live with it or to find it, to enjoy it, and it was missing. I'm so pleased it's coming back, and I'm pleased we've got a season starting right away. I'm happy for it. I'm real happy.
On whether holes in this agreement will cause another lockout when the agreement expires in eight to 10 years.
JEREMY JACOBS: There's a ton of that, a ton of that in every agreement. We tried to close the dysfunctional part, of the avoidance or the evasions that went on, existed in the past agreement. And I think in a lot of ways that was done – the back-diving contract were done and things like that were leveled out. Those were, to have to fight for that, a lot of these things should be recognized between the parties going forward and say, there are issues we've got and the next agreement should be evolutionary – it shouldn't be revolutionary. This was, very honestly, an event that should have been evolutionary. And because it wasn't, it's disappointing. But we've got to work not to have that happen again. We've got to work with the players and have them recognize that we've got a common direction, a common goal. We have to have credibility between one another. And that's only going to happen over time, and I'm glad it's 10 years. It's important to be able to offer, not only to our obvious fans but also to the broader public, our sponsors and people who invest in the game with us, television deals and things like that—that's dependent on our being able to have continuity going forward. The players are going to get very rich under this transaction. They were very rich going into this. They passed up $700 million in payroll. That's a lot. And I'm hopeful that it was fulfilling.
On why he is confident that this agreement will work as opposed to others in the past.
JEREMY JACOBS: I think the players thought they lost before. I hadn't recognized it, but they thought they had lost, irrespective of the facts. And I think they probably feel much better about themselves going forward. I think they must feel unity and a bond, and hopefully they do. And hopefully that move forward with this.
On whether the players made gains with regard to free agency.
JEREMY JACOBS: I can't speak to that.
On the unity that the players feel.
JEREMY JACOBS: Well, I think, when I say "won," I don't think they feel they lost. I think last time they felt like they lost.
On whether Don Fehr deserved credit for the unity the players are feeling.
JEREMY JACOBS: I wouldn't say. I wouldn't give him credit for anything. I'm not able to give him credit for anything, so I don't know. It's up to them, in other words — it's not my comment. I don't know what it did.
On what the owners think of Fehr, looking back on the lockout.
JEREMY JACOBS: I can't speculate on that. It's too new.

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