I did a "seat review" a few years ago that people seemed to find of some value:
https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=99006.msg2620120#msg2620120so I thought I'd give it another shot.
This past Friday night (Pistons), my 13-year old son and I got floor seats for the Celtics game. The tl;dr is that it was a fantastic experience, definitely on a bucket list.
There are multiple sets of "floor seats." We were behind the basket, in Section 17, Row CC, seats 13 and 14 (on the aisle). There are two sections of baseline floor seats on each side. There are four rows in a section and each row has 14 seats.
There are also rows of floor seats running along the sidelines. On the side opposite the benches, there is a single row (AA). On the same side as the benches, there are two rows (AA and BB). Bob Kraft was about 10 seats away from the Celtics bench in AA, so I'm not sure who those people were who were 1-9 seats away, but they must have been pretty happy.
Pricing: I've seen the tickets in the secondary market (Ticketmaster, the red dots) from $550-900, depending on the row and the location in the row (more on that later). I also see the occasional tickets directly from the Celtics (blue dots) available. Remember, Ticketmaster adds ~20% fees on the resale tickets, but not on the ones that you buy directly from the Cs. In the resale market, the sideline seats cost 3-4X as much as the baseline seats. I've never seen a sideline seat available directly from the Celtics.
The "upgrade" starts the minute you walk in. I showed the guy in the premium line our tickets (a really nice gold color on the app) and he said, "Come with me." He walked us across the floor to the other metal detectors and to the front of the line ahead of a group of people who didn't look too pleased.
Floor seats come with access to the Putnam Club (It should indicate such on your ticket.). We got there about 90 minutes prior to game time and had no trouble finding a table. During halftime and closer to the game, the tables fill up, so take that into account. The Putnam Club is opposite the entrance to the visitor locker room, so you'll see players coming in and out if you stay and watch.
I read a review online that said the Putnam Club had "light appetizers," free non-alcoholic drinks and a cash bar. The appetizers went well beyond light, though. They had shrimp scampi, crab cakes, steak, caesar salad and a huge deli and and cheese tray (among other items that I've forgotten):
In other words, it's a full meal. Well, several full meals.
At halftime, they put out pizza, cookies and bags of candy. If you want a seat at the Club, I'd advise starting out for it about 3 minutes before halftime and watching the rest of the half there. It fills up very quickly and, unlike pre-game, when everyone is arriving at a different time, the halftime rush is all at once.
Our seats were in the 3rd row of Section 17, on the aisle under the basket. Paul Pierce was in Sec 18 row 1, about 10 yards away from us, which was kind of cool. The ushers did an admirable job of keeping people (including my 13-year old son) away from him, but he interacted with the crowd a lot. Also, a girl in our row got selected to be the pre-game ball girl, which was really cool.
Okay, a couple of things to keep in mind:
1) The seats we had were, in some sense, obstructed view, since we had the pole in front of us. It didn't bother us, but I know that it could bother some people. Also, since there's no upward row on the seats,
short vertically challenged people may have trouble seeing if there's someone tall in front of you. Fortunately for us, we had a very nice family with small kids right in front of us.
2) The seats were extremely comfortable (footrests!) but
very tight, both in terms of leg and elbow room. Anytime somebody in the middle wanted to get up, the whole row had to, as well. The seats are the
only thing that kept this grade from being an A.
3) Before the game, the announcer says that people who use "foul language" will be ejected. Let me tell you, I now know for a fact that every single player on the court should have been ejected.
4) The cheerleaders and Lucky ran right down the aisle next to us, so my son was really excited that he got to high-five everyone and, to their credit, they made a really big deal of him. I told him that he should get some numbers but, as usual, he forgot to bring his phone. Tant pis.
Other Fun Stuff:
Compared to the other guys on the team, Jayson Tatum doesn't look that big on TV. In person, the dude is huge.
It's really cool to watch the players come charging down the court at you.
Overall, it was definitely a great experience. The staff really went out of their way to make us feel special and the little extras were a lot of fun. It also saved the cost of dinner and snacks.* The
only disappointment was the tightness of the seats, but being on an aisle definitely helped.
Mike
*Note: A bottle of water costs $5.75 at the concession stand, but was free in the Putnam Club. I saw floor seats available for this game at $575 each, which means that if you take 100 bottles of water...
Just sayin'.