Several hundred Boston Celtics fans gathered at the George Sherman Union plaza Tuesday to celebrate the start of the upcoming basketball season, while Celtics promoters gave out free T-shirts, promotional posters and tickets for opening night on Oct. 29 versus the Miami Heat.
As part of the hour-long program, Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck and Celtics managing partner Robert Epstein presented a Celtics game jersey to Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore and donated $1,000 to the Boston University Scholarship Fund.
‘The Boston Celtics belong to the fans throughout New England,’ Grousbeck said. ‘This tour provides us with the opportunity to connect and interact with the people who support the team, as well as provide assistance and support to those in need.’
Several Celtics owners attended the event, as well as Celtics legend JoJo White and current starting center Tony Battie, who talked about the importance of student fan support and signed autographs.
‘I think local support is always really important,’ Battie said. ‘I know the ownership would like to increase our younger fan base the younger the fans, the more excited the fans can be which definitely goes hand in hand with our success.’
The Boston Celtics/Pepsi Opening Night New England Community Tour is traveling to 20 New England communities in preparation for the start of the 2003-2004 NBA season.
Over the course of the tour, the team will give away 4,000 tickets to Celtics games and donate $20,000 to local community groups across the region.
‘This tour gives us in the front office and the organization as a whole the opportunity to be tied in with the community and relate to our fans,’ White said. ‘We give away $1,000 at every stop which definitely earns us kudos within the communities.’
Students who attended the event said they were thrilled about the chance to win free tickets and other promotional materials and to hang out with former and current Celtics players.
‘I liked the trivia questions and the free tickets,’ said College of Communication senior Dan Spiegel. ‘My friend got some tickets, so I’ll be going to opening night now.’
School of Management freshmen Mike Tobish and Adam Goldberg said they were happy just to have the opportunity to show their support for the team.
‘We’re huge Celtics fans so when we saw the sign outside of our residence hall, we decided we had to come we showed up a half an hour early,’ Tobish said. ‘I’m definitely excited to go to games when the season starts.’
The BU stop was the fourth on the tour, and White said several hundred fans have shown their support at each event.
During the off-season the Celtics front office made several moves and is predicting big things from the team this season. Grousbeck said the best game to attend this year would be ‘game seven of the NBA finals.’