Ticket Sales Suggest Fans are Excited

August 2, 2007

It's all hands on deck for the Boston Celtics.

The franchise put half its staff on the phones yesterday to take orders amid suddenly soaring demand for tickets in the wake of the team's blockbuster trade deal.

Celtics staffers have sold thousands of season tickets in the last three days since news first leaked about the team's acquisition of superstar Kevin Garnett, said Rich Gotham, the team's president.

The flood of incoming calls has been so intense that the team has put 30 employees on the phones at its North Station-area headquarters. Staffers are required to make outgoing calls on cell phones in order to keep phone lines free.

Even newly acquired star Ray Allen has jumped into the act, grabbing the phone during a visit to the team's offices and taking a few orders, Gotham said.

The team has taken out print ads using Garnett's likeness to tout the deal.

``We have worked hard for the last few years to get to this point, and now we are flat-out reacting to the market opportunity that has opened up over the last 72 hours,'' Gotham said.

Meanwhile, the Celtics chief predicted similar demand for a new Garnett Celtics jersey being released by Adidas,

NBAStore.com started selling Garnett's new No. 5 Boston Celtics replica jerseys, made by Adidas in home- and away-game versions, online yesterday. Ray Allen's No. 20 Celtics jersey also is available on the site. Garnett jerseys will be available Friday at the Pro Shop at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston and the NBA Store in Manhattan.

The jersey is expected to be a top seller for the sportswear company, said Gotham, citing a conversation with a top executive at Adidas.

``There has been a lot of pent-up demand for the Celtics to be good again,'' Gotham said. ``The fans really see the potential and are jumping in, in a big way.''

Other retailers are also looking to cash in on revived interest in the Celtics.

Modell's Sporting Goods plans to have Garnett name-and-number T-shirts on its local shelves tomorrow. The company, which has stores in Medford, Saugus, Newton, Beverly and Brockton, hopes to start selling Garnett jerseys at the beginning of next week, according to CEO Mitchell Modell.