Regarding Greg's comments on the Fleet Center.  I am not a fan of Jeremy
Jacobs, but in this case I am coming to his and his arena's defense.

For many years Boston area sport fans and concert goers suffered through
the decrepit conditions of the old Boston Garden.  It was a horrible
facility, although it did have its virtues.  For 35 years (no
exaggeration) city leaders struggled to have a new arena built.  More
often than naught it was those same leaders who provided the obstacles
in getting the job done.  Strangely, the city leaders in question are
collectively known as The Vault, which is what some people have applied
as a nickname to the Fleet Center.  But I digress.

Bob Kraft couldn't get a stadium built in Boston, because of all the
NIMBY's.  He had to settle for Foxboro, and has been lionized for it.
Rightfully so.  The largest stumbling block in building an arena in this
town has always been taxes.  No one wanted public dollars to be used for
a private facility, which is what the old Garden was and what the Fleet
Center is today.  Jacobs, and his predecessors, only wanted breaks from
the government in getting the infrastructure in place.  He placed his
own financial risk in putting it all together.  Amazingly, Jacobs did
it.

So a private facility was built with private money after years of
suffering, and all anyone is this town can do is complain about the
quality of the new building.  Is it as good as some other major
metropolitan arenas?  Probably not, but how many of those arenas of
which the Fleet Center is compared were privately funded?  How many of
those arenas assessed seat licenses?  Nobody else in this town was
willing to step up to the plate to put his own money where his mouth
was.  People complain that it's just a vehicle for Jacobs to sell hot
dogs (concessions being his primary business) and that he's gouging the
consumer.  Well, that's America.  When the Fleet Center was being
constructed people around here were incredible excited, and all I hear
today is disappointment.  My response to that is be careful what you
wish for.

The Fleet Center is far from perfect.  It's clean, it's accessible, and
it's serviceable.  My biggest complaint is the acoustics (I miss hearing
the sound of the skates on the ice), but I can live with that.  The
concession and parking prices are outrageous, but no worse than they are
at Fenway Park.  Jeremy Jacobs may be a horrible owner of an NHL
franchise (which in my mind is a redundancy), but he deserves credit for
getting the Fleet Center built.

Edward N. Moller
Controller and Assistant Treasurer
Mount Ida College
777 Dedham Street
Newton Centre, MA  02459-3323
Tel  617-928-4515
Fax 617-928-4581
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Greg Ambrose
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 8:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: tickets

Unfortunately, first row of the balcony at the Fleet is not like the
first
row of the balcony in the Garden. But it is not bad. My experience is
that
the farther you go up in the balcony, the worse it is. The angle that
the
seats were constructed isn't made for hockey unlike, say, the Bradley
Center
in Milwaukee (my favorite FF building).

Bottom line is the Fleet (soon to be Bank of America or somesuch, BTW)
is a
terrible building. The concourse reminds me of an airport and the view
from
just about everywhere is average at best, considering what you pay. The
most
you can say is that it is clean and comfortable, with no chewing gum
under
the seats ar newspaper stuffed in the pa amplifiers like I used to see
at
the Garden.

Oh well, at least I don't have to get on a plane this year.

Greg Ambrose