from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

...the front offices of all the Hub’s pro teams have become bland corporate entities, buying into a league-driven philosophy to limit media access and try to control the message — in part due to an attempt to enhance revenue streams by creating exclusive content on their own website and various media platforms that pay them money (NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub, etc).

The players increasingly have bought into the controlled conditions, and understandably so, given who writes their checks. Sinden held that the media were filled with bad people — some worse than others — but he worked in a time when he accepted, albeit begrudgingly, that TV, radio, and print were a vital part of the industry and his team’s overall financial success. Vital, in the new-age interpretation, starts and stops on the dime.

Dismissed for decades as farcical, the day now seems inevitable when teams will charge mainstream media (i.e. those not able to prove or provide a direct revenue stream) for access to games and locker rooms. Every other inch of the industry is for sale, be it ad space on the ice surface, the boards, the arena signage.

Next, the press box, and perhaps one day the national anthem. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise now and remove your hats as Patriot Chevrolet brings you “The Star Spangled Banner.”

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