WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) – Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs said Friday that his team’s ticket prices are too high and he hopes the next collective bargaining agreement with players will keep them from rising again.

The current labor contract expires next September. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has indicated that owners need a way to contain salaries that now cost them 75 percent of their revenue.

The Bruins increased ticket prices for the coming season by an average of 2 percent to 3 percent. Their $99 top price is one of the lowest in the league, Bruins spokeswoman Heidi Holland said.

“Ticket prices are too darn high. Our prices are high. We’ve been chasing away the fans with it over the last couple of years,” Jacobs said. “For every dollar that we’ve increased ticket prices, we’ve spent more than two on a player.

“So we recognize we’ve got a problem. I hope that the commissioner in the next CBA is able to reach an agreement that allows us to stabilize the ticket prices and perhaps even lower them because I think we are chasing away a lot of our ticket base.”

Jacobs’ remarks came during an interview at the Bruins’ annual media day. Three weeks earlier, he spoke in Boston at a breakfast with owners John Henry of the Red Sox, Wyc Grousbeck of the Celtics and Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots.

Before then, it was believed that Jacobs, a resident of Buffalo, N.Y., hadn’t given an interview with Boston media members for more than three years.

He spoke with forthrightness and humor, unexpected qualities from a businessman with a reputation of caring more about profits than the playoffs.

But Jacobs said that’s a misconception. He isn’t seen much at Bruins games because he usually sits in a luxury box, he said.

“If I was downstairs I couldn’t tolerate it,” he said. “I have to be in a place I can walk around. Otherwise, I’d go nuts.”

He also said a high player payroll doesn’t always correlate with on-ice success.

The New Jersey Devils, who won the Stanley Cup last season, have a payroll “pennies apart” from that of the Bruins. “They got a better group of players for the same bucks than we did,” Jacobs said.

He expressed confidence in Bruins president Harry Sinden, who has been with the team since becoming general manager in 1972.

“I’ve worked with Harry my whole hockey career and I don’t second guess him too often,” Jacobs said.

He’s also pleased that, with the uncertainty of the labor situation, general manager Mike O’Connell signed most players only through the coming season. Marty Lapointe is the only veteran with a contract beyond that.

“Our team is going to be better positioned because of the short-term contracts,” Jacobs said. “I can’t talk about other teams because then again I’d get fined.”

Bettman was upset when Jacobs referred to a salary cap at the breakfast on Aug. 22 held to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, dedicated to children with cancer. Jacobs indicated Friday that he was fined for those remarks. Bettman prefers the term “cost-certainty” to “salary cap.”

O’Connell said one-year

contracts give the team flexibility during the labor uncertainty.

NHL Players’ Association chief Bob Goodenow has indicated the union won’t accept a hard salary cap and warned some players an impasse could last longer than a full season.

For this season, Jacobs said he may be more visible in Boston but the team’s success will have more to do with how many fans turn out.

“We’ve got to take a run at the (Stanley) Cup to get their interest,” he said. “This community will react to a winner”