The Boston Celtics will play the Dallas Mavericks for the 2024 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, split between the two teams’ home-court venues, between June 6 and June 23 in a best-of-seven series.
Games 1 and 2 (and games 5 and 7, if necessary) will be played at the Celtics home court at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 6 and 9 (and June 17 and 23, if necessary), respectively, as the team is the No. 1 overall seed, giving them the home-court advantage.
In contrast, games 3 and 4 (and game 6, if necessary) will be played at the Mavericks’ home court on June 12 and 14 (and June 20, if necessary) at the American Airlines Center (AAC) in Dallas, Texas, which will be highlighted in Part 2 of Facilities Management Advisor‘s NBA 2024 Finals Stadium Series (see link below).
Whether you watch the games from a stadium seat or see all the action from the comfort of your home, you’ll likely be cheering on your favorite basketball team to be crowned 2024 basketball champion.
While the players on the floor are where the action is, facilities professionals worldwide will be focused on one of the show’s other stars: TD Garden.
What You Need to Know
- Name: TD Garden
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- Owner: Delaware North—Boston, a subsidiary of Delaware North
- Cost: $160 million
- Seating capacity: basketball: 19,156; hockey: 17,850; maximum: 19,580
- Size (total area): 755,000 square feet (sq ft), occupying a 3.2-acre development site above a 5-level, 1,150-space Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) parking garage
- Base dimensions: 468 feet (ft) long (east/west); 300 ft wide (north/south)
- Levels: 10
- Key building materials: 8,100 tons of structured steel; 650,000 sq ft of exterior masonry; 147,000 sq ft of roof area; and 17,000 yards of concrete
- Notable features: New England’s largest sports and entertainment arena
- Year opened: 1995
- Renovations: 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2014
- Primary uses: NBA’s Boston Celtics and National Hockey League’s (NHL) Boston Bruins
- Other uses: The Beanpot (college hockey tournaments featuring Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University), Harlem Globetrotters, Hockey East Association, concerts, and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The facility has hosted figure skating, box lacrosse, the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, and Walt Disney World on Ice.
What’s in a Name?
Believe it or not, TD Garden changed names 33 times in 27 years.
According to ESPN, the facility was originally named the Shawmut Center, after the Shawmut Bank, when it broke ground in April 1993. Before it opened in September 1995, Fleet Bank bought Shawmut Bank and renamed the building “Fleet Center.” Every seat in the new arena had to be replaced, as each had a Shawmut logo on it.
Fleet Bank was bought by Bank of America in 2004, and the naming rights for the facility were sold back to the arena owners, taking them to auction.
Between February 10 and March 13, 2005, an eBay auction allowed people to bid for 24-hour naming rights, with money going to a charity. TD (Toronto-Dominion of Toronto, Canada) Banknorth purchased the facility’s naming rights at $6 million per year in March 2005 and officially changed the name to TD Garden in July 2005. A 20-year extension means the facility will be called TD Garden until 2045.
Unique Features
The Sports Museum
Located on levels 5 and 6, the Sports Museum has over a half-mile of exhibits celebrating sports in Boston and beyond, including the Bruins, the Celtics, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Boston Red Sox, the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots, Major League Soccer’s (MLS) New England Revolution, Boston’s Olympic Games, and more.
More than 100,000 people visit the museum each year, including those purchasing timed tickets for guided tours, as well as those taking private VIP and field trip tours.
Some of the most notable exhibits include a 10-ft-high “Puck Wall” in the fan foyer, a 30-ft-wide immersive signature film featuring the history of the Bruins, and state-of-the-art transparent interactive OLED screens to explore select artifacts.
Heritage Hall
The Boston Bruins Heritage Hall is the latest addition to TD Garden. It features the team’s 100-year history and is in a 5,000-sq-ft space on the second-floor concourse.
Customers can take self-guided tours to see a display featuring the latest technologies, interactive exhibits, exclusive artifacts, and games, and ambassadors can answer customer questions.
Sensory-Inclusive Rooms
TD Garden is a certified sensory-inclusive arena with sensory rooms—an upgrade that was implemented during the 2023 to 2024 season. While some love the passion and excitement surrounding their favorite sports teams, these rooms assist and accommodate guests with sensory needs who could feel overwhelmed when attending large, crowded, loud events.
Facility staff works with Kulture City, a nonprofit organization specializing in sensory accessibility and acceptance for those with invisible disabilities.
Sensory rooms at the facility, according to the stadium’s website, have “bubble walls, dino textured wall art, play panels, nanoleaf panels, a custom art piece, a nunoerin bench and Yogibo bean bags.”
Additionally, the facility has sensory bags with noise-canceling headphones, fidget toys, and cue cards.
Design
According to the Society of Architectural Historians, TD Garden incorporates the 12-platform North Station, a subway station, and a parking garage below. Architect Ellerbe Becket needed adjacent buildings to be demolished before TD Garden’s exterior could be completed. The exterior features shades and gray concrete block textures.
Facts.net notes that one of the most distinctive features of TD Garden is the roof, which resembles a skate blade—a nod to the city’s hockey heritage, which dates to the beginnings of the Bruins in 1924.
Renovations and Transformations
TD Garden announced a number of upgrades and renovations to its food and beverage and retail options as it started its 2023–24 season.
At the beginning of the 2022–23 season, the facility celebrated the completion of The Hub on Causeway, the development of more than 1.5 million sq ft of retail, office, hotel, and residential space and an expansion of TD Garden on the 2.5-acre site, which broke ground in 2016. Improvements announced also included new back-of-the-house spaces, locker rooms, and new food offerings.
The Hub is U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified, the 31-story office tower is LEED Platinum, and the rest of the project is LEED Gold.
Video and Audio Upgrades
TD Garden’s in-arena entertainment system had a massive overhaul, with a new 4K center-hung scoreboard and audio system, a Daktronics scoreboard with 2.5-millimeter pixel spacing, and the highest resolution in the NBA and NHL.
According to TD Garden’s website, “The four main display screens have nearly doubled in size and measure 18 feet by 32.5 feet wide and have new accompanying underbelly boards measuring 6.5 feet high by 23 feet wide to cater to fans sitting closer to the action. Above the 4K video boards, two new ring displays each measures 3.5 feet high 179 feet in circumference and feature 3.9-milimeter pixel spacing.”
“We started this transition back in 2019, so to see this new center-hung finally completed, as originally intended is just extra special,” said Daktronics Sales Representative Charley Bocklet.
Checkout-Free Convenience Stores
TD Garden was the first sports venue to provide checkout-free convenience stores, two of which were launched in 2021 to reduce waiting lines.
The stores are located on the fourth and seventh levels, and customers use their credit cards to enter the stores. Sports Business Journal reports that computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning track what customers take off the shelf and charge them as they leave the store.
In 2001, Amy Latimer, who served as president of TD Garden at the time but currently is Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Delaware North, said in a press release, “We are always looking to leverage technology to bring fast, easy and touch-free amenities to our guests, and we are excited to collaborate with Amazon to use their Just Walk Out technology in these MRKT stores.”
“These stores will deliver a fast, frictionless experience, helping to eliminate lines and to get our guests back to the action on the court and the ice faster,” she said.
Upscale Bars and Restaurants
Those looking for a unique experience can join the Boston Garden Society (BGS). TD Garden features five venues for BGS members to enjoy, which include:
- Society Harbor View, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Charlestown, is the arena’s fine dining restaurant with an expansive raw bar, American-fusion pub fare, and a full bar with beer, wine, and cocktail mixers.
- The 1928 Club, opened in 2021, pays homage to the original Boston Garden with its speakeasy vibes and vintage décor.
- The Heineken Star Club is a Heineken-themed oversize bar offering a semiprivate space.
- Jameson Lounge is a Jameson Irish whiskey-themed super suite with a high-energy communal bar.
- Society Provisions has a high-end bar with made-to-order food options.
There’s also a Legends private restaurant and bar for those with a Bruins Legends membership.
Sustainability
Through a partnership with Eversource, TD Garden installed energy-efficiency improvements, including light-emitting diode (LED) lighting upgrades and advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controls. This has saved almost 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and 4,705 tons of avoided carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions—equal to taking 1,064 cars off the road for a year.
Additionally, TD Garden announced in 2017 that it’s an anchor tenant in the Clean Energy Collective’s (CEC) 1.3-megawatt community-shared solar photovoltaic (PV) cell facility in Holliston, Massachusetts, to reduce its environmental footprint through community solar technology. This agreement was necessary because it isn’t practical or cost-effective to install a solar system on the roof.
Security
Starting February 17, 2024, TD Garden worked with Evolv Technology in implementing artificial intelligence (AI)-based detection tools to screen customers as they walk through a screening lane. This means they won’t have to stop to go through a metal detector and have their mobile phones and wallets checked.
“TD Garden is committed to providing a best in-class experience for our guests, and safety and security is paramount,” Glen Thornborough, President of TD Garden and COO of the Boston Bruins, said in a press release.
“Evolv’s innovative technology allows us to do just that, while also streamlining the entry process and minimizing wait times,” he said.
Additionally, its bag policy prohibits bags larger than 4” x 6” x 1.5.” Bags larger than this must be checked into The Mobile Locker Company for on-site bag storage.
A Facility That’s a Slam Dunk
Whether it’s the Sports Museum, Heritage Hall, sensory-inclusive rooms, the unique architectural design, various renovations and transformations, video and audio upgrades, checkout-free convenience stores, unique bars and restaurants, sustainable practices, or the latest high-tech security practices, TD Garden is a one-of-a-kind facility that’s proud to host the NBA Finals in 2024.
Make sure to read Part 2 of our NBA Finals Stadium Series to learn all about American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Mavericks, here!