Celtics, Delaware North Extend TD Banknorth Garden Lease

Celtics Agree To New TD Banknorth Garden Lease

The Celtics and Delaware North Companies-Boston have amended and extended the team’s lease to play at the TD Banknorth Garden through the 2020-2021 season. As part of the agreement, the Celtics will expand sponsorship opportunities on game nights. The deal also includes a new multimillion-dollar scoreboard, sound and lighting improvements and a new private “Courtside Club” for entertaining courtside season-ticket holders. Additionally, the Celtics and TD Banknorth Garden will apply to host the NBA All-Star Weekend in either 2009 or 2010 (Celtics). In Boston, Scott Van Voorhis writes the deal “puts an end to the team’s quiet, on-again, off-again search for a potential arena site.” The Celtics had been “unhappy over a Garden lease deal that barred them from sharing in most arena revenues.” The new lease agreement “includes changes likely to boost revenue” for the club, as the team will “pick up extra cash through a new joint sales and marketing initiative with Delaware North aimed at selling exclusive club seats.” Meanwhile, the team made a “quiet move to raise ticket prices for the most expensive season-ticket packages.” But the increases were “offset by a big cut to some tickets that knocked several hundred seats down from $40 to $20.” The team now offers 5,400 seats a game at $25 or below (BOSTON HERALD, 4/20).

FROM THE OWNER: Celtics CEO & Managing Partner Wyc Grousbeck said of the upgrades at TD Banknorth Garden, “It’s A to Z. More (details) will be coming over the next month or two as we work to finalize the plan. It’s going to start with a state-of-the-art, high-def scoreboard, with a lot more impact on the game.” Grousbeck, on a potential All-Star Game: “We’ve gotten indications that (the league) will look favorably on the application. It would be conceivably as early as 2009-2010. We’ve got [Boston Mayor Tom Menino] supporting it. ... It’s going to happen. We’re going to have an All-Star Game here” (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/20).