Projo Sports Blog

April 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Boston Celtics had no sooner announced the acquisition of All-Star forward Kevin Garnett last July 31 when the National Basketball Associations club's marketers launched a fast-break.

Seemingly within 24 seconds -- the time allotted NBA teams to get off shots -- they were shooting off e-mails and text messages to the 200,000 ticket-buying fans in their database.

"We've got the Big Ticket (Garnett's nickname)," wrote the Celtics. "Time to get yours." Fans who wanted to see Garnett restore the Celts' lost glory -- along with another newcomer, All-Star guard Ray Allen, and holdover sharpshooter Paul Pierce -- had better buy season tickets: "The sky is the limit for this team."

The orders poured in so fast that even between 1 and 6 the morning after the announcement, the team racked up $1 million in online sales. The Celtics grew their season-ticket base 40 percent -- to more than 10,000 -- before cutting off sales to preserve single-game tickets. Those sold out in a day when they went on the market in September.

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