Boston Celtics and TD Garden Fan Experience Review

Celtics

On Monday morning I started the first day of four consecutive 3am or earlier starts as today I left NYC for Boston at 3am on an Amtrak train from Penn Station to Boston South Station where I took in a Boston Celtics game at the TD Garden in North Boston.

After a long day walking around Boston and Fenway Park which I noticed had this very cool ‘kids only’ entrance I made the trek to the TD Garden where both the NHL Bruins and NBA Celtics play matches. It’s situated above a subway station in North Boston and houses merch shops and plenty of green wall art features for the Celtics.

Red Sox

Celtics

One thing on this trip which I have been amazed at has been the amount of advertising for fantasy sports. Whether it’s FanDuel or DraftKings, I can literally not turn my head without seeing an ad on a bus shelter, TV screen, ribbons at the matches, train stations (the Boston North station felt like a political party was running ads for an election! Ads were everywhere for DraftKings). I’m talking advertising that is way more than normal. Advertising that feels a bit odd. Fantasy sports have well and truly arrived though, whether it’s showing the latest stats in the stadium or these ads it’s a huge thing here right now.

Fantasy Sports Ads

Celtics

Walking round the concourse pre-game I noticed that the Celtics had a photo booth area where fans could have their pic taken with various props and receive a print out after. There was also balloons available for kids in Celtics colours and face painting on offer as well for kids to get kitted out before the match against the Brooklyn Nets.

Celtics

I ventured up to my seats after a walk around the venue checking out the food on offer. Big slices of pizza, orange beers, local Sam Adam craft beers as well as standard stadium grub choices.

The fan engagement on offer at the Celtics included:

photo booth area with fun props print out
Lucky row where one row would win prizes
Shot in the dark where a fan had to shoot 3 hoops blindfolded to win a prize
Parquet derby cars where kids raced around the court for prizes
T-Shirt Toss where the team threw shirts into the crowd. Some of these went 40-50m high!
Balloons in Celtics colours
Celtics on court crew girls/guys dancers and flag bearers
Commemorative coins. Fans could buy a special coin for the game
Dance cam. These were hilarious, especially when they sliced the one guy into quarters on the big screen. Video to be added here
Pre-game TV show. The Celtics are doing a pre-game TV show that goes live to fans