In Boston, Eric Convey profiles Celtics President RICH GOTHAM, who said of the team's "rebuilding year" this season, "The past few years, people haven’t been able to get tickets to Celtics games. So a lot of those people who weren’t able to get tickets to games can now come into games. We’ve had to do more outbound demand creation -- (by coming) up with smarter and better ways to package our tickets to appeal to different types of buyers." He added, "There’s definitely a correlation between winning games and ticket sales. What we try to do is put in a hedge against that. For us to have the business we want to have, we need to be able to sell tickets regardless of the winning percentage." Gotham said of working with Celtics President of Basketball Operations DANNY AINGE, "The best thing I can say about Danny is he’s one of those people who is a lifelong learner and values and solicits input from everyone around him" (BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/21 issue).
CREATING A BUZZ: Virginia Tech yesterday introduced new men's basketball coach BUZZ WILLIAMS at a press conference, which "doubled as a pep-rally for about 2,000 enthusiastic fans at Cassell Coliseum." Williams "agreed to a seven-year contract" worth $18.2M. He will be paid $2.3M his "first season, then receive $100,000 pay-bumps each of the next six years." That is "considerably more than Tech was paying" former coach JAMES JOHNSON, who "earned about $245,000 this past season." VT also will have a "salary-pool of $725,000 for Williams’ top three assistants, considerably more than Johnson had to pay his top three aides, who combined to make less than $200,000." AD WHIT BABCOCK said that the department will "pay for all the added costs through increased ticket revenue and ACC revenue sharing" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 3/25).
AT THE MOVIES: Former MLBer JOE PEPITONE has optioned the rights to his book "JOE, YOU COULDA MADE US PROUD" to Miami-based Magic City Pictures. The proposed feature film will be co-produced by ALEXIA MELOCCHI and ALEXANDRA YACOVLEF of Little Studio Films and writer/producer A.J. FERRARA from Magic City Pictures (Little Studio Films)...."STEALING HOME," a documentary about the "grassroots efforts to take care of the old Tiger Stadium lot, is the winner of an audience award from the Freep Film Festival." The film won the Best of Fest prize, which was "determined by viewer votes" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 3/25).
SHARK ATTACK: Author ANDY FARRELL has released a new book, "FALDO/NORMAN -- THE 1996 MASTERS," which chronicles the tournament in which GREG NORMAN blew a six-shot final round lead to eventual winner NICK FALDO. Farrell's "chronological structure, a hole a chapter, works well, as he draws on a wealth of expert witnesses along the way to help explain the unfolding drama" (INDEPENDENT.co.uk, 3/22).
NAMES: More than 1,400 players, coaches and managers from all 30 MLB clubs have collectively pledged a record donation of $2,523,650 to the Baseball Assistance Team during the organization's 12th annual Spring Training Fundraising Tour (MLB)....WWE will team up with a number of celebrities and athletes to launch Superstars for Kids, a global online auction benefiting Saints QB DREW BREES' non-profit, The Brees Dream Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Clubs (WWE)....Baseball HOFer-elects BOBBY COX and GREG MADDUX yesterday visited the HOF "for a day of orientation in advance" of their July 27 induction. The tour "wasn't so much to review the lay of the land as it was a chance to process." Cox and Maddux took the tour "together, with their wives, several Hall officials and a half-dozen media types" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 3/25)....NASCAR and IndyCar team owner ROGER PENSKE will become the 16th member inducted into the Texas Motorsports HOF. He will be honored April 3 as part of Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 weekend (Texas Motor Speedway)….ESPN MLB analyst CURT SCHILLING “dropped the price” of his Medfield, Mass., home by $500,000. The 26-acre property is now available for $2.5M (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/25)….Dodgers LF CARL CRAWFORD and his fiancée EVELYN LOZADA welcomed their son, CARL LEO, on Saturday (PEOPLE.com, 3/24).
