Owner Wyc Grousbeck anticipates the team will sell out its entire slate of 41 home games at the TD Banknorth Garden, a vast improvement from just nine home sellouts last season. Only a couple of hundred tickets remain to each of a handful of home games, and Hollywood celebrities are clamoring for courtside seats.
With tickets scarce, Celtics fans have turned elsewhere for a piece of the Green, shopping for team merchandise at a rate straining supply. Sales of Celtics merchandise at the Garden have increased 93 percent from last year. Grousbeck visited the NBA Store in New York City yesterday and found that all Celtics hats and jerseys were gone, though a fresh box of No. 5 Kevin Garnett jerseys was being rushed to the shelves. That happens when the Celtics are the top-selling team and Garnett's jersey is also No. 1, based on combined figures from the NBA store and NBAstore.com.
"We're up over $10 million from tickets sales, sponsorships, radio and TV advertising, all categories," over last year said Grousbeck. "We're going to be sold out for the entire season. All of that adds up. It's a nice bump. Most if not all that money is going back out the door to players. But, as an owner, I couldn't be more excited about going to another sold-out game and feeling we have a good chance to win every game we're in. That's the way I feel when I go to the Red Sox or Patriots."
When Grousbeck and his fellow owners walk around the Garden these days, fans offer thanks for a new dream team that includes veteran All-Stars Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. The new Big Three are eager to add an NBA championship to numerous individual honors, and it shows in the focus they bring each game. In the field goal percentage statistic, the Celtics rank as the best offensive and defensive team in the league.
