Jacobs Family, Bruins Announce $1.5 Million Workers Fund

After immense pressure from media, fans and then the Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Friday, the Jacobs family and the Boston Bruins became the final NHL team to announce a plan to help compensate part-time staffers who are losing income since the NHL paused its season on March 12 due to the Coronavirus. The Bruins announced Saturday morning that they have set up a $1.5 million fund to help compensate for wages lost should the remaining six games be canceled. 

There was no mention of the five games already postponed and that these workers lost wages on or the guaranteed minimum two postseason games the Bruins would be playing in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Here’s the official statement from the Bruins:

“The Jacobs Family has established a $1.5 million fund for the Boston Bruins and TD Garden part-time gameday associates who will be financially burdened if the six remaining regular season Bruins games are not played. We thank our associates for their patience and understanding while we worked through the complexity of this unprecedented situation.”

As of now, the Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres are the only teams to have added in the clause that the games must be canceled in order for the workers to receive money from their compensation funds. When asked via an email from BHN to confirm this, Bruins Vice President of Communications and Marketing Matt Chmura wrote this:

“The TD Garden is communicating to the relevant Union leadership, and individual associates will receive communication if Bruins games are officially canceled.”

A GoFundMe was setup by local Bruins fans last week and Bruins players have contributed.

Some good friends started this go fund me page for the TD Garden employees. Please take a lookhttps://t.co/JCTW5hst9v

— Brad Marchand (@Bmarch63) March 14, 2020