Boston's Fleet Center: Sporting More Than Just Athletes

<B> Boston's Fleet Center: Sporting More Than Just Athletes</B>

By Kellie K. Speed

Mention the Fleet Center and nearly everyone thinks of a Bruins or Celtics game. With its 19,600-seat facility, 104 executive suites and four promenade suites, however, the Fleet Center is also a popular site for business meetings.

Since its grand opening four years ago, the Fleet Center has hosted a slew of sales and marketing seminars, receptions, annual meetings and conventions. Today, once a business conference is planned, guests are able to create a customized function on the same famous parquet floor the Celtics play their games. And a unique basketball event can be arranged for an annual meeting, sales conference or even a corporate outing, which could include three hours of playing time with a game announcer, score board operator and locker room facilities.

A "Play on the Parquet" or "Slice the Ice" costs approximately $15,000 per event and celebrity appearances and catering services also can be provided for an additional charge.

"We just had one of our employee company meetings at the Fleet Center," said Nancy Robbins, CMP, CMM of the Institutional Brokerage Group of Fidelity Investments of Boston. "We were looking for a place where we could hold a meeting that consisted of a business update portion and then a time for the employees to socialize. With nearly 1,000 people in our group, there are not a lot of locations where we can put all of us."

Fidelity was able to take advantage of the state-of-the-art video score board and audiovisual capabilities for sales and marketing presentations. "We were able to use the score boards for motivational talks," Robbins said. "We were looking for a venue that would be a memory. The Fleet Center was something that would be unique, accessible and secure. I wanted to find a place with someone who knows how to work these events. The Fleet Center was able to provide that for us."

Offering meeting rooms for 50 to 15,000 attendees, "The Fleet Center was the perfect place for our company outing," Robbins added. "It's not cheap to hold an event there, but our employees were uplifted after playing basketball on the same floor the Celtics play on."

The Fleet Center, New England's largest indoor space, "has many spaces to accommodate banquets, awards, ceremonies and corporate events," said Robyn Sullivan, director of corporate and special events for the Fleet Center. "The arena floor is 17,000 square feet and holds 1,000 people on the floor. There are five function rooms that we use for function space--the Gold Room, the members-only club Legends, Madison Square Garden, the Premium Club and the private dinner club Banners. Many people even rent out the concourse area for trade shows and exhibitions. The cost to rent out a restaurant is approximately $3,500," she added.

How does a meeting planner go about scheduling an event at the Fleet Center? "Availability is dictated by the schedules of the Bruins and the Celtics," Sullivan said. "We also have the circus and Disney on Ice each year, as well as concerts. Once business planners decide they want to have a meeting or corporate event at the Fleet Center, we check availability and alternate dates and then schedule a site visit."

Groups of 25 or more receive special discounts and benefits for Fleet Center events, including The Bruins, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, the Harlem Globetrotters and even Olympic figure skating. With more than 3.5 million visitors each year, the Fleet Center also is home to the New England Sports Museum, which stores memorabilia of Boston's greatest sports stars and also can be rented for a function.

The Fleet Center also offers unusual signage opportunities. The score board is the Fleet Center's four-sided video score board with two rotating tri-vision panels with four fixed panels and a huge video screen on each side. Each back-lit arena is sold individually or in pairs. The concourse signs are displayed throughout the entrances, lobbies and concourses, making them an ideal location for point-of-sale messaging.