Bruins Future Plans May Not Include Wilmington
At year end press conference, team's ownership said other practice facility options are being discussed.
Wilmington’s Ristuccia Arena is the practice home of the Boston Bruins. For now.
During an end of year press conference on Thursday, members of the Bruins ownership group touched on the subject and admitted they are exploring other venues where the team may skate on off days.
According to team president Cam Neely, there is one year left on the Bruins’ lease with Ristuccia Arena, where the team has practiced for decades.
“We still have some term on Wilmington,” Neely said, according to a transcript of the press conference on the Bruins website. “There’s one year left. We’re in discussions with them right now.”
Charlie Jacobs, the Bruins’ principal and alternate governor, said during the press conference that there is a desire among the organization to find a more state of the art facility.
“Frankly, Cam and I have been collaborating a bit on what should be the best facility for us moving forward,” said Jacobs. “We batted and considered Wilmington around a bit and obviously also explored some other locations. We like to think of our training facility and practice facilities as a drawing card for players that might be playing in other markets.”
The team is working on plans for renovations in the area around TD Garden, but it is not believed a practice facility would be built as a part of the plans.
“The practice facility really needs to be, if you will, world class in that regard,” said Jacobs. “So we put, for lack of a better term, a blue ribbon committee to say, ‘Let’s try to find the right location that’s within a very short driving distance to the Boston Garden that could offer that kind of environment, that kind of ice and training facility.’”
From the town’s perspective, it’s unclear what the impact of a potential move could have. Wilmington government has no control over the facility, since the lease is taken out through Ristuccia Arena management.
Town Manager Michael Caira said while he hadn’t heard the news of the potential move, he wouldn’t hold a grudge if the team decided to move out of town.
“It’s nice to have them here and people enjoy saying the Bruins practice in Wilmington,” said Caira. “But if they leave for greener pastures, we’ll just wish them well and hope the rink would at least revert back to its original intention, and that’s to provide ice time for youngsters.”
Caira did say there are different outcomes that could come from the team moving out of Wilmington.
The potential move could mean more availability for local teams on the ice, but Caira said it remains to be seen if the arena’s rental cost could increase to make up for the gap without the Bruins as a tenant.
A call to Ristuccia Arena was not returned to Wilmington Patch by publication time of this article.
“We’re in the process of (deciding what the best option is) now,” said Jacobs. “We don’t have any final answers to share with you today, other than saying we’ve done a lot of work on this subject and I think we’re drawing to a real good conclusion.”
Kevin MacDonald
8:08 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012
The Bruins practice in the morning when youngsters are in school. Does Mr. Caira want students to skip school and play hockey so the rink can fulfill its original intention? I guess these students will end up being as smart as him. 49% of the eighth graders in the relatively new middle school are in the warning or needs improvement category for mathematics. Are they already skipping school to shoot pucks? If the town had some leadership ability it would build a new school on a different site that would fit a new revenue generating arena/practice facility for the town and the Bruins. Come to Town Meeting today and vote yes on articles 28 through 39. The Budget when Caira took over as manager was $33,344,490. Today he is proposing a budget of $86,430,144 an increase of $53,085,654. The increase from just last year is $6,560,259. I believe if this was private industry he would have been fired long ago. Come to town meeting today and keep your families from being hammered financially.
Kevin MacDonald
8:38 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012
Article 29 and Article 35 on today's Town Meeting would open up many profitable possible opportunities for Wilmington including its own rink to be shared by and financed by the Town and the Bruins. Here is an over view of the proposal: "Wilmington Community College Educational and Economic Development" 159 Church Street.
Financial projections:
25 College classrooms
20 students per classroom
Co-op work/study available
$8,500/year per student cost
Salary for college professor- $100,000/year
20 x 25 = 500 students
500 students x $8,500 =$4,250,000
25 professors x $100,000 =$2,500,000
$4,250,000 - $2,250,000=$1,750,000 profit
1st floor: 25 college course related businesses
25 leased out rooms
$1,500 per month x 25 rooms =$37,500/month rent
$37,500 x 12 months = $450,000 per year
The first floor would cover our building operating costs