Harry Sinden Disses The Wyc or "A long time Celtic Hater spews..and it's not Ray

["adam litchy" <adamlitchy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here is the entire Globe article, for context.  Sindenes (I guess that's his 
name, "I'm too lazy and stupid to take the time to find out.") sounds like 
an pompus prick jealous of the Celtics tradition and years of success.

Celtics, Bruins have FleetCenter issues


By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff, 4/24/2003

bad blood between the Celtics and Bruins is nothing new. The Celtics have 
been tenants in the Bruins' building since the NBA was born in 1946, and Red 
Auerbach still insists that Boston Garden box office folks discouraged 
patrons from buying green tickets back in the day.



Fifty years later, there's still tension in the gym as new Celtics ownership 
wrestles to get a better deal out of an inherited FleetCenter lease that 
runs until 2011. Delaware North, which owns the building (and the Bruins), 
allows the Celtics to play rent-free, but there's age-old haggling about 
ticket pricing, premium seat shares, seat locations, cramming new seats into 
old spaces, parking accommodations, practice times, and just about anything 
else that involves playing in a building you don't own. The Red Sox, 
Patriots, and Bruins don't have this problem. It is unique to the Celtics.

Publicly, all parties are taking the high road at this hour, but Boston is a 
small town and leaks about angry meetings between representatives of the 
Celtics and Delaware North have surfaced throughout the spring.

Some executives in the building have said that Celtic CEO and owner Wyc 
Grousbeck and his partners want changes in the lease in order to recoup part 
of their $360 million investment. The Celtics can charge whatever they want 
for their own tickets, but it becomes a lease matter when the Celtics' 
ticket-price increases trigger prices in other parts of the building.

Example: The lease stipulates that premium seating (club seats and luxury 
suites) must be the second-highest ticket price in the building. The Celtics 
next year will have a $700 courtside seat, but also raised the next three 
sideline rows from $95 to $225, making a $225 ticket the second-highest 
price at a Celtics game. Technically, the premium prices should raise to the 
$225 level. Approximately 90 percent of premium seats are Celtic-Bruins 
packages and the area was only half full this year. Individually, Bruins 
premium seats this year went for $80 while Celtics were $95.

Premium ticket prices have not been announced for next year. Grousbeck said, 
''The FleetCenter establishes their premium seat ticket prices.''

FleetCenter CEO Richard Krezwick countered, saying, ''We do not establish 
the final ticket price on premium seating.'' Krezwick explained that 
one-third of a premium seat's cost is related to an annual membership fee 
that escalates at 4 percent per year. Then the Bruins and Celtics, above and 
beyond that, set their own prices.

Bruins president Harry Sinden said, ''They [the Celtics] can charge what 
they want. The question is, do we have to pass that on to premium seat 
holders no matter what the Celtics charge?''

Clearly, the Bruins have no interest in offering a $225 premium seat to 
their shrinking and disgruntled fan base. That's not likely to happen, which 
means the Celtics' lease will not be followed to the letter, and could open 
other aspects of the lease to negotiation.

Grousbeck said, ''They've asked us to strike a compromise on one particular 
aspect of pricing for the premium. We've indicated to them that we'll likely 
do that as a sign of good faith and move forward on that basis.''

The Celtics owner said that Robert Epstein, a partner in the new ownership, 
will serve as point man in negotiations with the FleetCenter. Both Grousbeck 
and Epstein yesterday characterized meetings thus far as ''businesslike,'' 
and ''productive.''

Krezwick said, ''We've had six or eight meetings since they took over 
January 1. Some have been positive, some have been difficult. We're working 
through the same process of getting to know each other. I think we've come 
at the same issues from different angles because of the experience level. I 
have 25 years of experience and new owners don't necessarily look at things 
with the same perspective. They would like to change some things that I 
might find difficult to change.''

Additional courtside seating could be the next obstacle. The area around the 
perimeter is already crowded, but Grousbeck said the Celtics are still 
looking to add seats. ''We've got a waiting list of people who want to sit 
closer to the court,'' he said.

Krezwick would not comment on the idea.

Sinden, who is also chairman of the FleetCenter, said, ''They're looking for 
some help, trying to look for ways we can work together, which is normal. 
They're looking to maximize revenues to every cent, and we're not opposed to 
that. They're no different than anyone that came before them. In fact, the 
contentiousness is minor compared to problems in the past. With [Paul] 
Gaston, from what they tell me, we had issues with those people on 
everything - seating, practice times. Every little thing was a harassment.''

Asked to size up Gaston's successor, Sinden said, ''Wyc - I guess that's his 
name. He's a kid [Grousbeck is 41]. If you make a lot of money, it 
automatically makes you smart. He seems fine. But he's brand new to this and 
to think he's not going to have some naivete is foolish. I'm sure they read 
the lease before they spent 360 million bucks. Maybe not, though.''

''We read the lease,'' said Grousbeck. ''The former owners told us it 
expired in 2016. It expires in 2011. They hadn't read it. We look at every 
agreement closely.

''I don't have any comment about any of the lease terms. We're early in our 
relationship with the FleetCenter. We've got eight years to develop a 
partnership with them. We're off to a good start communicating with them and 
don't have any public comment about the lease terms.''

Was the lease a dis-incentive to buy the team?

''No comment,'' said Grousbeck.

He also would not comment on whether the Celtics would like to build their 
own arena someday.

''We've got eight years to go on this lease and it's too early to even have 
a discussion on this topic.''

The Celtics owner said he'd met with Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs several 
times and described those meetings as ''cordial, productive, and friendly.''

''Here's the approach Bob and I are bringing to the table,'' said Grousbeck. 
''We're looking A to Z in that building. We're looking at every facet to see 
how we can together make the pie bigger. That's the tone of the discussions. 
We'd like to see how it can work for everybody and that includes courtside, 
premium seats, parking, and everything else.

''There's a constructive attitude on both sides. I'm not going to tell you 
anything that you can come back later and say it was BS. In 20 years here I 
will not do that.''9

Are the Celtics headed for trouble in the Bruins' house?

''I certainly don't feel that way,'' said the new owner.

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 4/24/2003.
) Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.


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