( Photo Credit: Steven Senne / AP / The Boston Globe )

By: BNG Staff | Follow Us On Twitter @BlackNGoldPod

As sports try to recoup their financial losses from the pandemic, Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs is just trying to get by. Jacobs and his Delaware North hospitality and gaming industry was reportedly hit hard by the pandemic. As the Bruins begin to prepare for the start of the 2021 season (first game on January 1), Jacobs is trying to repair his business empire.

According to Yahoo Business, Jacobs lost around $600 million and has lost the third-most amount of money among 12 pro sports owners. He trails Los Angeles Kings owner Phillip Anschutz (900 million) and Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke ($1.7 billion). How much can Jacobs get back? That’s a tough question to ask.

Internal Salary Cap

One of the bright spots for Jacobs is that the Bruins own the fourth-best NHL odds to win the Stanley Cup. However, the financial loss appears to have hurt the Bruins in the offseason. The team appeared to be interested in top players like Taylor Hall, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, or Torey Krug. Instead, GM Don Sweeney didn’t do hardly anything. The team’s moves, you ask? Boston signed wing Craig Smith to a three-year, $3.1 million deal and let Torey Krug walk. Krug was an undrafted free agent and quickly became a fan favorite while maintaining a high level of play. That appears to be because there was not a lot of money to give.

When It Gets Worse

When the season paused on March 12, 2020, the Jacobs family was forced to furlough workers both at Delaware North and with the Boston Bruins. As the pandemic continued, more workers were furloughed. Things were so bad for Jacobs that he even listed his $11 million apartment in Manhattan for sale.  It became apparent that the Bruins imposed an internal salary cal below the $81.5 million set by the NHL.

However, the Bruins denied that there were conversations about hockey-related spending but read the tea leaves. Jacobs lost the third-most money among major sports owners, and the Bruins didn’t make any major signings this offseason. What does that tell you?

Reestablishing The Losses

Jacobs isn’t the only owner that lost money. That’s why the owners are asking the NHLPA for an extra 13% deferral in salary. That would be an additional percentage placed upon the 20% escrow and 10% deferral from the players association and owner’s agreement from the summer.

No matter what happens, this is going to be a long recovery for many parties. The worst part is that we may not have seen the last of this, and hockey franchises could face similar patterns for the 2020-2021 season. Teams are advised not to host fans in the stands next season to be reading about more financial losses in the future.

In the end, if you were sitting on the couch wondering why the Bruins spent just $11 million this offseason, that’s why. It’s not that Jacobs doesn’t want to invest in another team making another postseason run. He really can’t afford it right now.