More than a few fans of the Boston Celtics have been unclear about what it is that Celtics President Rich Gotham does in that role with the team. Especially considering that the lead executive of the team (Boston President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens) has a similar-sounding title. But anyone unclear on what it is Gotham does for the Celtics can lean on a recent interview with the Celtics president by the folks behind the "CORE journey" YouTube channel.
Gotham, who has been with Boston in this capacity since 2003, has helped steward the team through two titles and a lot of winning. But it is the financial side of things where he puts in the work that helped make Banners 17 and 18 possible. "My job as president of the Celtics is to oversee the overall operation, primarily the business aspects of it," explained Gotham. "The way a professional sports team works and the Celtics work is (that) you need to generate revenue to pay players to win championships."
"If you're the solider – It's an oversimplification of everything we do – but if you boil it down, the business is the engine for it that funds the product, which is the team that consists of a roster of players," he added. "And my job is not only to sort of oversee, sort of fueling the overall business."
"But it's also where the business and the basketball come together, which. It's pretty much everywhere, every decision you make," said Gotham. "Whether it's a player transaction, a free agent signing, a draft pick, a trade, you have to take a problem-solving approach to everything."
"Every decision you make either opens up another opportunity or closes up another opportunity. You're always balancing short-term with long-term tactics with strategy. So a big part of what I do is try to help balance everything out of the Celtics to make sure ... we're consistently making the best decisions we can, business and basketball. So that's probably not something you see in my job description or my bio, but that's really what I try to do. Tasks with overseeing and leading a bunch of big groups of people who are really good at what they do. Trying to remove obstacles for them so they can do their job as well as possible, trying to help them problem-solve, or course correct where needed. (I) occasionally steer things in a direction that people might not be seeing, but also allow myself to be steered by things that I might not be seeing. But it's a big business. When you walk into our ... business office, there's a big mural of Red Auerbach smoking a cigar, which was his trademark. And it says, 'The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team— they're a way of life'. There's truth in that. We are a basketball team, but ... it's more than that, which is what makes it purpose-driven. We want to win games, but there's a lot more to it, but we're also a pretty complicated big business. We're in the media business, we're in the live events business, we're in the data business, we're in the technology business. We've got so many different aspects of the business that, if you're a fan sitting in the arena, you don't see, but are really critical to making the whole thing work."
"So anyway, my job is to look across all of that stuff and make sure it's all aligned and leading us to the winning basketball games and hopefully raising championship banners," said the Celtics president.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Rich Gotham on what the Boston Celtics President does for the team
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