Exclusive: Celtics Ownership Slammed

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Boston Herald 
March 24, 2004 
HERALD EXCLUSIVE 
Jacobs slams C's ownership 
Author: Scott Van Voorhis

FleetCenter owner Jeremy Jacobs took a hard line with the Boston Celtics in an exclusive Herald interview yesterday, saying he won't cave into the Green Team's demands for lease concessions, even as the storied NBA franchise escalates threats to bolt his North Station arena. 
Led by Belmont venture capitalist Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics deep-pocketed owners have threatened to build their own basketball palace if they can't win a favorable FleetCenter lease extension. 
Grousbeck's group, which paid a record $360 million for the team in late 2002, have made it clear that the price of staying at the Fleet must include a piece of the arena's revenue. While the Celtics pay no rent, they don't cash in on lucrative concession and luxury seat sales. 
But Jacobs, the Buffalo, N.Y., stadium concessions magnate and Boston Bruins owner who built the Fleet in 1995, contends that the Celtics don't know how good they have it. 
Along with playing rent-free, the Celtics don't have to shoulder either the escalating cost of operating the arena or its debt payments. 
"They have to realize they have a $160 million building which they get the free use of," Jacobs said. "They have a great lease and at the time it was considered unique." 
A Celtics spokesman said the team owners would not comment publicly on lease talks. The team's lease expires in 2011. 
While that sounds a long way off, Hub developer Robert Epstein, a leading member of Grousbeck's ownership group, has told the Herald that the team will have to start planning for an arena within a year or so if it can't get a new lease in place. 
But Jacobs said he's not pushing the panic button. He said building an arena may not be so easy. 
"That is a value judgment they have to make," Jacobs said. "I know what it took me to build my building. It is not an easy undertaking." 
Jacobs also took aim at the Celtics for jacking up high-end ticket prices. 
The Celtics this season hiked prices for hundreds of FleetCenter club seat and luxury suite holders to $140 from $95, while another potential increase to $170 may be in the works for next year. Luxury seat holders pay the arena for their perches, but they buy tickets for each game separately from the Celtics and Bruins. 
Fleet management has accused the Celtics of raising ticket prices for luxury seat holders as a way of targeting the arena's best customers - and an important stream of revenue - in a power move to force concessions out of Jacobs. 
"I think the (Celtics) prices are onerous now," Jacobs said. "It's no way to treat the people of Boston, especially when you depend on them for supporting your product." 
Moreover, if the Celtics ticket hikes were meant to force concessions, they are not working, he said. "I haven't seen anything that makes me want to deal." 
Copyright 2004 Boston Herald