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Innovations That Inspire

Sawyer Business School–Boston Celtics Partnership: A Game Changer for Learners

Recognition Year(s): 2025
School: Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University
Location: United States

By design, the Sawyer Business School (SBS) partnership with the Boston Celtics is curriculum intensive. A faculty-driven initiative to serve students, it is no branding exercise. Rather, its objectives are to maximize both classroom and experiential touchpoints for learners, maintain alignment with the SBS mission, drive enrollment in the newly launched sports management program, and differentiate the program in a competitive marketplace.

Call to Action

Cementing a signature partnership with a professional sports team in the city of Boston was an essential part of SBS’s launch of its BSBA in Sports Management. SBS holds a competitive advantage for having the only sports management program at an AACSB-accredited business school in Boston, although multiple colleges and universities locally, regionally, and nationally offer it as a major or minor.

SBS faculty leveraged their vast network of professional relationships to target the Boston Celtics, the then 17-time National Basketball Association champions. Designed by faculty to center the student experience, the innovative partnership plays a critical role in creating experiential curriculum elements that simultaneously educate learners and make them competitive candidates for employment in the industry.

The partnership is the signature piece of the sports management program. It builds on the many strengths of SBS, including an existing sports marketing concentration that was already driving SBS applications, as well as SBS’s downtown location—offering convenient proximity to the Boston Celtics, the Boston Bruins, the Boston Red Sox, and Boston’s championship parade route.

Strong existing cross-disciplinary faculty experience makes the SBS sports management program stand out. Faculty in the economics and business law and ethics programs have added sports-centric course offerings, exemplifying the ample opportunity to integrate SBS with Suffolk Law and the College of Arts & Sciences.

The alumni base of sports industry professionals from these three Suffolk schools gives SBS a competitive edge in the Boston area. Further, the athletic department desires to market the sports management major in recruiting against other conference and non-conference schools with sports management or recreation majors.

Innovation Description

SBS’s Celtics partnership began in December 2022 and was announced to the Suffolk community and prospective students in February 2023. SBS and the sports management program have the following partnership assets: use of Celtics logos, official partner status, one curricular Celtics project per year, access to Celtics executives for classroom participation or headquarters visits, and access to Celtics partners for SBS curriculum integration.

The core vision of the Celtics partnership is to develop experiential curriculum elements that benefit SBS learners and make them competitive, qualified prospective employees. Further, the SBS method puts the educational needs of students first and delivers a strong learner return on investment.

Commenting on the program’s value, SBS graduate Lily Le (class of 2023) said, “I’m currently working as a Consumer Insights Analyst for the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. The Celtics project is one of the major catalysts that helped me to get an interview. They were impressed with my skills throughout the project. The company then flew me out at the end of January for an interview, and I got the job offer!”

Jennifer Todd, Celtics senior vice president of partnership development, partner strategy, youth basketball, and events, added, “[Celtics] executives and other employees enjoy providing students with a behind-the-scenes look at our operations and giving those pursuing a career in professional sports a competitive edge.”

Innovation Impact

Over the past two academic years, more than 300 undergraduate and graduate SBS students have worked on Celtics-related projects. During this time, 80 students visited the Celtics to learn from and network with executives, including the chief partnership officer, head of partnership and commercial strategy, and director of community engagement, as well as multiple Celtics partners, including NBC Sports Boston, VistaPrint, and Jack’s Abby.

In the 2022–23 academic year, students worked on integrating the Boston Celtics and VistaPrint’s Power Forward Small Business Grant Program into Suffolk’s Bridging the Gap marketing conference. Undergraduate and graduate student teams participated in a “hackathon” for the aforementioned program and presented to the Boston Celtics executives.

In the 2023–24 academic year, more than 300 students worked on a Celtics social media project, 50 of whom presented their findings at the Boston Celtics corporate headquarters. A Celtics “Coffee Chat” event in the Suffolk Career Center featured Evan Pierce, Celtics vice president of people and culture, and Kate Sullivan, Celtics inside sales manager.

The partnership has also elevated interest in and awareness of SBS. The sports management program and the Boston Celtics partnership contributed to a 16 percent increase in SBS applications and a 9 percent increase in deposits for the 2023–24 academic year. Another highlight, the Suffolk Office of Marketing & Communications reported 250,000 impressions on partnership-related social media posts.

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