Long playoff runs good for fans, and good for business
It’s all about the banners, sure.
But at the start of what could be a two-month playoff run that results in both Bruins and Celtics championships, let’s not overlook the impact to the bottom line for the teams and the city.
“For us, it’s utopia,” said Glen Thornborough, walking the aisles of the Boston Pro Shop located at the nexus of North Station, TD Garden, and The Hub on Causeway mixed-use district. “You have two unbelievable teams and a thriving community base that has been wanting for entertainment and product, and we have both in the Hub.”
Thornborough is the chief revenue officer of the Bruins and TD Garden, the latter owned by Delaware North, the former by Delaware North chairman Jeremy Jacobs.
Sales at the apparel and merchandise shop are up nearly double from a year ago, said Thornborough, and it’s no great mystery why.
“That double in sales reflects the day-of-game sales tied to the product on the ice and the product on the court, tied to the new products we offer on the jersey side with both the Bruins and Celtics,” said Thornborough.
“Both teams are on absolute fire, and that creates a different affinity. There is a direct correlation between wins and sales of team merchandise.”
Amplifying that correlation is that the worst of the COVID-19 crisis has lifted. The Hub on Causeway opened just a month before the March 2020 shutdown, effectively throwing a sodden blanket over the $2 billion investment by Delaware North and Boston Properties for the 1.5-million-square-foot area comprising office towers, housing, hotels, supermarkets, restaurants, live music venues, and bars surrounding TD Garden.
The office towers and residential units in and near the Hub on Causeway are filling up again, along with restaurants and bars that survived the pandemic.
The projected playoff games this month and next, and possibly into June as well, will draw in excess of 20,000 fans and workers nightly.
The city is leaning into the game-day influx with its “Boston Playoff Hub,” which will shut down Canal Street to cars and allow drinking and dining establishments to expand their outdoor seating area.
MeetBoston, the new name for the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, makes economic-impact projections for large events such as conventions, tournaments, and the Boston Marathon (worth about $150 million in visitor spending, by their calculus).
Past analyses showed that each NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals game generated nearly $5 million in economic impact. Because the Celtics’ NBA Finals run last year coincided with the US Open golf tournament in Brookline, a precise number could not be generated.
The biggest economic impact will be felt if each team can reach the final round, when more out-of-town fans, media, and league representatives fill hotel rooms and restaurants. That doesn’t happen in the earlier rounds, when the crowd is overwhelmingly local.
“Anecdotally, we know that all the businesses around the Garden benefit greatly from the extra games,” said a MeetBoston spokesperson. “From their perspective, they probably don’t differentiate between a visitor dollar and a local dollar, but for us that makes all the difference in how we arrive at economic impact numbers.
“Given the success of our local teams over the past decade, these businesses have probably grown accustomed to the additional four, eight, 12 or so home games that each franchise hosts every spring, so therefore the economic impact is essentially what is anticipated versus extra spend.
“Again, this is what makes those deep playoff runs so critical, because every extra game means more spend and an increased likelihood that the spend is associated with a visitor.”
The Celtics are tenants at TD Garden. They don’t share in concession sales, but they reap 100 percent of ticket sales and courtside signage from team sponsors. And while merchandise sales are at an “all-time high for all things Celtics this season,” said team president Rich Gotham, it’s mainly playoff game-day receipts that generate the bulk of extra revenue.
Even though the Celtics’ bid fell short last year with a Game 6 Finals loss to Golden State, the extra revenue generated by the 12 games they played at TD Garden was earmarked for paying players who can bring a banner this year — a contributing factor to why the Celtics’ $175-plus million payroll this year means they are paying a stiff luxury tax for being $51 million over the NBA salary cap.
“It’s not a windfall, but it’s an important part of our season and important to our overall economic outlook,” said Gotham. “We didn’t get the maximum amount of home games last year, but it certainly was great to have that run.
“The way our business model works is we want to generate revenue to pay players to compete for championships. When we’re in a year like we’re in now, where we feel like we have a shot at it with a contending team, we’re willing to spend a lot of money on players as we have this year at this point, as well as the luxury tax.”
However long the postseason run of each team lasts this spring, each game, win or lose, delivers a bonus that registers simultaneously on actual balance sheets and on the hearts and minds of fans.
“There’s a pretty significant economic impact with these games in the neighborhood, whether it’s the Hub, all the neighboring restaurants and bars, Canal Street, the North End hotels,” said Gotham. “The deeper you go, the bigger the game gets and the bigger the impact.
“It’s all good. It’s really incredible to have both teams with high hopes going into the playoffs at the same time the weather is warming up.
“It feels like it’s playoff time and Boston’s going to be great.”