Gang Green: Gotham Says Celts' Key Business Metrics Remain High
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Gotham Says Some Softness For
Premium-Seat Inventory Remains |
The Celtics yesterday held their fourth annual sponsor summit, and team officials say most key business metrics for the club remain at very high levels despite the ongoing economic recession and the club losing in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. The Celtics have renewed 92% of their existing season-ticket base, but then filled in that gap and sold more than 1,000 additional full-season equivalents (FSEs). The club is now projecting to cap season-ticket sales at 13,000 FSEs for the '09-10 season. Celtics President Rich Gotham said there remains some softness for premium-seat inventory, “but what doesn’t get sold on a [contract] basis will be sold for individual games.” On the sponsorship front, the club at this point is projecting roughly flat sales for next season after a 10% increase during the '08-09 season. Of particular interest is heightening sponsorship sales for the club’s growing extensions into digital media, particularly social networks, which took up part of yesterday’s discussion. The Celtics have 377,000 fans for their team community on Facebook, more than twice the level of just five months ago; 8,600 followers on Twitter; and more than 1.5 million unique users per month to Celtics.com. The club is also negotiating with Comcast to stream its games live online in the Boston area as part of the NBA’s ongoing experiments with in-market streaming. "We didn’t reach our goal (of a repeat NBA title) this year, but there’s no regret,” Gotham said. “We fought the good fight. So our focus now on the business side is on growing our base and extending our reach into these new and emerging areas. We’re not relying on people to come to us -- we’re out there going to where they are now. We really see ourselves as an integrated marketing company with a big aggregated audience that carries a ton of passion.”
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