Ever since Bill Chisholm bought the Boston Celtics last year, a major talking point has been whether he feels the need or desire to have the Celtics leave TD Garden and build their own arena.
The Celtics lease the Garden from Delaware North, which owns both the arena and the Boston Bruins.
Chisholm himself told WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show in August that while he doesn’t think a new arena is a necessity, he does think it’s a necessity to make sure the Garden is a state-of-the-art facility if they’re going to stay. TD Garden opened in 1995, making it the seventh-oldest arena in the NBA and eighth-oldest in the NHL.
On Tuesday, prior to the Bruins’ season-opener against the New York Rangers, Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs discussed his relationship with Chisholm and the Celtics, and his desire to keep the Celtics at TD Garden. Here is his answer in full:
“I have had the good fortune of working with the Celtics management that’s been in place. When Bill Chisholm and his group purchased the Celtics, they pretty much left most of the senior management in place. So we’ve had a very strong working relationship for 20-plus years with those associates. And Bill, to his credit, said, ‘Let’s just take some time, take measure of what we have here before we make any decision about whether or not we’re going to go build a new building.’
“And it’s been it’s been a breath of fresh air, in my opinion, to sit down across the table, talk about a master plan, talk about maybe what this arena looks like 20 years from now, and if the Celtics want to be a party to it or not. Listen, there seems to be a new story every other day in the newspaper or the Sports Business Journal, whatever it might be, ‘Hey, Celtics ownership is talking about going to this location or that.’ That’s their right.
“My hope is that they stay here, and every discussion that we’ve had to date has been about them staying here. In terms of the renovations of this building, I feel like it is a constant churn, if you will. We’re in the process at the moment of redoing all of level five and six. We did it this summer. We’re going to be doing it next summer to finish all of our suites. That’s 100-plus million dollars right there in renovations. And then we’re going to get started on level three, where we are right now.
“It’s been very clear that in order to keep pace, we need to have the best in class, and we shoot and aim for nothing less than having the best in class. And if that means the best courtside club for the Celtics, then they should have it. Or listen, we talk about, we’re going to redo the arena floor next summer. We have a lot of work ahead of us, again, to try to improve this building. I’m proud of what what it is today. I think if you were to go to different arenas around not just the United States but North America, we more than hold our own, I’d say, for a 30-plus-year-old arena. But again, we can’t just sit on our laurels by any stretch. We need to to deliver best in class, not only for the Celtics, but for the fans of Boston.”