Boston Celtics: The First Pro Team To Advertise Twitter On Their Home Court?

Did the Boston Celtics just become the first pro sports team to advertise Twitter on their home court/playing surface?

That seems to be the case, thanks to the addition of the @celtics Twitter handle that showed up on the parquet floor during Wednesday night’s pre-season basketball game against the Toronto Raptors.

Peter Stringer, the Celtics’ Director of Interactive Media, posted the photo on Twitter Wednesday and wondered if any NBA or pro sports team had put its Twitter username on their home court (or playing surface).

Is this a first in the NBA? Or pro sports? @Celtics is officially a part of the parquet at @tdgarden #sportsbizyfrog.com/ocgnozfj — Peter Stringer (@peterstringer) December 22, 2011

Stringer later told me that the team’s Chief Marketing Officer, Shawn Sullivan, took the idea to the NBA and got the league’s okay. Stringer says the team’s Twitter handle will stay on the TD Garden floor going forward.

Why the team’s Twitter handle, and not it’s Facebook URL? When I asked on Twitter, Stringer explained:

@mattmcgee Twitter handle is shorter, easier & cleaner. Our FB page already has 5.6 million fans. More room for growth on Twitter (~250k) — Peter Stringer (@peterstringer) December 22, 2011

The Celtics may be the first pro team to advertise Twitter on their playing surface, but Mississippi State University seems to be the first overall sports team (at least in the U.S.) to put Twitter on a playing surface. Before their football game last month against rival Ole Miss, the Bulldogs painted a Twitter hashtag in both end zones of their football field saying #hailstate.

(Photo via Ben Waits on Twitter.)

It’ll be difficult for the Celtics to track any impact in the team’s Twitter following from putting @celtics on their home court. Still, I’d expect more teams to do similar things going forward, whether the ROI is obvious or not.

(We’ve reached out to Twitter’s communications team to see if they’re aware of other sports teams advertising Twitter like this, but since it’s a holiday weekend, we may not get a reply soon.)