Some elusive goals

When the Boston Bruins went up 3-1 against Toronto recently after a sluggish first period, the fans in a packed TD Banknorth Garden leaped to their feet and cheered.

Near the back of the arena, in the team's newly discounted $10 seats, Nicholas Andries turned to his friend Joe Gilmore. ''You know," Andries said with disbelief, ''they might actually win this game." He tried to remember the last time he saw the team win at home.

''It's called Bruins," Gilmore said, mocking the team's new marketing slogan. ''Passion. Pride. Winning. . . . Garbage."

As the Bruins try to come back from a bitter hockey lockout that canceled last year's season, the team's business executives are marketing aggressively and offering steep ticket discounts that have lured die-hard fans back to the Garden. Attendance at the first 15 home games was 20 percent higher than the last season of hockey, and fans are queuing up to buy $150 Bobby Orr jerseys and $20 Bruins hats, Bruins officials said.

But as the team struggles on the ice -- it's in last place in the division -- that initial excitement at the return of hockey may evaporate in frustration.

Ticket revenue remains about the same as before the lockout, as the team sells more tickets at lower prices. Corporate sponsorships tell a different story -- by the time the Bruins returned to the ice, many sponsors already had allocated their marketing dollars elsewhere. In addition, many of the team's luxury suites, the financial backbone of any arena, lack long-term leases, though the Bruins have recouped some of that lost cash by renting them out on a per-game basis. Total revenue is down slightly from the last season of hockey, team officials said.

Just like before the lockout, unless the team goes deep into the playoffs this season, the Bruins are likely to lose money.

''The early results are very positive, and my hope is that we can carry this momentum throughout the year," said Charlie Jacobs, the Bruins' executive vice president. But ''none of this matters if our team does not perform well on the ice."

When the lockout ended earlier this year, the Bruins put in motion a systematic plan to woo back fans. They coined the marketing tagline ''. . . it's called Bruins" -- meant to draw out the team's rich history and appeal to its tribal, close-knit fans -- and tripled their advertising budget. They even came up with a manifesto of sorts, which executives call their ''brand attitude statement." It reads in part: ''The Bruins are Boston . . . not the glitz, but the grit. The Bruins are where character and teamwork matter over individual achievement. . . . It's about The Cup, get to work."

The Bruins put money behind their message: They added $10 seats and slashed prices as much as 44 percent across the balcony of the Garden. They showered season-ticket holders with lower rates and free tickets for their friends. Overall, the average ticket price dropped 3.9 percent, to $53.05, according to Team Marketing Report, which surveys prices across professional sports leagues.

For the first 10 games of the season, the Bruins let one child under 12 in free for each paying adult. Separately, Dunkin' Donuts advertised a promotion for eight Bruins tickets for the price of four Dunkin' paid the Bruins for the tickets.

To fans used to paying among the league's highest ticket prices while griping that Bruins ownership wouldn't spend the money necessary to win a Stanley Cup, the lower prices signaled a welcome new direction.

''It's nice to see them reaching out," said Andy Sherman, sitting several rows back from the ice during the game against Toronto.

Though some of the jump in attendance resulted from the discounts, ticket sales remained high after they ended. More than 90 percent of season-ticket holders ultimately stayed with the team. Since then, the Bruins have sold about 1,000 new season tickets -- triple their sales in the year before the lockout.

The Bruins' increased sales outstrip the NHL as a whole, where attendance through December rose 3.2 percent compared with the last season of hockey. The teams cut prices 7.5 percent on average to $41.19, Team Marketing Report figures show. An NHL spokesman, Frank Brown, said attendance in October and November of this year set records. ''It's literally extraordinary and a clear indication of the passion of our fans that not only did they come back, but in record numbers," he said.

But some Bruins fans, initially excited by the team's return, already have become jaded. Andries, the fan in the $10 seats, bought tickets to every home game this year. He and his friend Gilmore showed up to the games early, stood next to the ice to watch the players' warm-ups, then bought chicken fingers and beer. When the Bruins began to lose, however, and traded captain Joe Thornton to San Jose, the two friends got so upset that they made themselves bright yellow shirts that read, ''Worst management in sports . . . it's called Bruins." Though the team did win that night, it was only the second time in the previous seven home games.

In the sports business, winning teams attract more fans and do better financially. The merchandise store in the Garden reflects this: When the Bruins win, jubilant fans crowd into the store after the games, snapping up anything with the name ''Bruins" on it. But if the team loses, ''everyone is disappointed," said Kevin Peterson, a retail associate at the store. ''People will keep walking past the store. No one is interested in buying something."

Luxury-suite sales and corporate sponsorships work the same way. Corporations will pay a hefty price for suites in an arena -- the average Garden suite goes for $250,000 -- but only if executives feel the outlay makes business sense. If their clients stop clamoring to see Bruins games, the companies are likely to reassess. Already, in marketing the luxury suites, Garden executives face increasing competition from two winning teams in town, the Patriots and the Red Sox, who are investing heavily in their own premium seats.

As leases for corporate suites at the Garden expire, some companies are not renewing. John Hancock Financial Services, long a supporter of sports in Boston, did not renew its suite at the Garden for the 2006 season as part of a broader shift in its advertising budget away from sports marketing. Hancock was acquired by Manulife Financial Corp. of Toronto in 2004. ''The suite at TD Banknorth Garden was part of an in-arena advertising buy," said Roy Anderson, a Hancock spokesman. ''As with all our advertising buys, we continually evaluate them. For the 2006 season, we decided to refocus our advertising dollars on other efforts."

Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com.