Playing in his 10th career AFC Championship game this January, quarterback Tom Brady fell just shy of engineering the comeback win that would have sent the New England Patriots to their record ninth Super Bowl.
Disappointing for the Boston and Massachusetts faithful—among the most devout sports fans anywhere—but with multiple National Football League championships reaching back decades, there’s always next season.
From the shrines of Boston to the ski slopes of the Berkshire Mountains, sports are the ties that bind in Massachusetts.
“Our unique and historic professional and collegiate sports venues provide amazing options, magical settings and wonderful memories for meeting planners and their attendees,” says Patrick Moscaritolo, president & CEO of the Greater Boston CVB. “At the same time, our teams and their owners are our partners and fully understand the role they play in the fabric of our community, and more specifically, for our visitor industry and visitor economy.”
As Moscaritolo explains, this embrace of “corporate citizenship” translates into perennial winning bids for numerous professional and intercollegiate athletic events, from the NCAA Lacrosse Championships to the NHL’s Winter Classic. This culture readily extends to the group market. With a deep roster of sporting venues, cultural institutions and other options across the state, Massachusetts, birthplace of basketball and volleyball, is a win every time.
Victorious Venues
Once there was legendary Boston Garden, its signature parquet floor and ice rink serving as stages for the glory days of the Celtics and Bruins. Demolished in 1998, it was replaced by the nearby TD Garden. Along with major event hosting for up to 15,000 people, rental options at this 19,600-seat arena include single suites for 12 to 21 guests; Executive View for 25 to 30 people; and Garden View for 50 to 60 attendees. Amenities include VIP access to the center’s The Sports Museum, a half-mile of exhibits in the lobbies, and hallways on the arena’s fifth and sixth floors.
TD Garden is located in Boston’s Downtown North section, near the North End, which is home to renowned Faneuil Hall and properties such as the Battery Wharf Hotel, Boston Waterfront and The Bostonian Boston.
Home of the New England Patriots, 68,000-seat Gillette Stadium offers diverse rental options for groups of 25 to 5,000 people. Introduced in 2015, the Optum Field Lounge offers over 20,000 square feet of end-zone field-level space. Also available for rental is The Hall at Patriot Place, a museum dedicated to the Patriots.
In neighboring Cambridge, Harvard University is home to horseshoe-shaped Harvard Stadium, the nation’s oldest stadium, from 1903, with diverse rental options such as the university’s Hall of Athletic History.
With four rental locations, Charles River Canoe & Kayak offers various guided tours, outings and other programs on Boston’s historic waterway.
In Springfield, the 7,000-seat MassMutual Center is the premier sports and entertainment venue for Western Massachusetts. Home of the American Hockey League’s Springfield Falcons, the multipurpose venue boasts over 100,000 square feet of meeting, exhibit, ballroom and prefunction space. The venue recently unveiled a $3.2 million technology upgrade that included LED lighting in the arena interior and a $1 million scoreboard.
The Western MA Sports Commission, a division of the Greater Springfield CVB, promotes itself as being able to “capitalize on the region’s history of sport, abundance of colleges and ideal infrastructure” to attract sporting events of all kinds to the area.
Worcester, about an hour west of Boston, is home to the multipurpose DCU Center. Designed to accommodate groups from 15 to 15,000, the venue incorporates a 14,000-seat arena with an attached convention center featuring more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 12,144-square-foot ballroom and 11 meeting rooms.
Other local venues include the recently renovated Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium; Worcester State University’s 2,500-seat artificial surface stadium; and Lake Quinsigamond, home of competitive rowing since 1857.
Hallowed Halls
In 1891, Canadian-born teacher and physical educator James Naismith invented basketball as a winter recreation for 18 students at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Mass. Disorganized at first, the rest is history for Naismith’s innovation of throwing a ball into peach baskets nailed up on walls. He is also credited with developing the rules of basketball, and the first football helmet.
Opened in 1959, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame showcases more than 40,000 square feet of hoops history. Its basketball-shaped dome commanding the Springfield skyline along the Connecticut River, the venue enshrines 300-plus legends, including the “Original Celtics” (New York, 1914) and Boston Celtics star Larry Bird. Offering some 80,000 square feet of flexible space, the Naismith hosts everything from global corporate meetings to private functions in venues such as Center Court and Hall of Fame Boardroom.
Just north of Springfield, Holyoke is the birthplace of volleyball and home of the tour-capable International Volleyball Hall of Fame. Among the 125 men and women from 21 countries around the world enshrined here is the sport’s inventor, William Morgan. Seeking a less-taxing activity than basketball (one reportedly that “middle-aged men could play during their lunch hour”), Morgan, then physical director of the Holyoke YMCA, created volleyball in 1895.
Sand and Snow
From Cape Cod to the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, groups have abundant opportunities to meet for work and play.
Established in 1885, the summertime Cape Cod Baseball League is the nation’s premier amateur baseball league. Celebrating its 131th season in 2016, this fan-friendly showcase of collegiate talent is a ready group tie-in, featuring teams from 10 Cape Cod communities playing a 44-game regular-season schedule and action-packed postseason. Groups can also visit the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame exhibit at the JFK Museum in Hyannis.
Home to three all-season resorts (Jiminy Peak, Bousquet Mountain and Berkshire East Mountain Resort) and three winter-only resorts (Catamount, Ski Butternut and Otis Ridge), the Berkshires are ready-made for outdoor adventure. Jiminy Peak is the largest ski and snowboard resort in southern New England, offering more than 15,000 square feet of flexible meeting space resort-wide.
With accommodations at the 100 all-suite Country Inn and 55-plus condominiums in the Village Center, comprehensive group activities are offered at the Aerial Adventure and Mountain Adventure Parks, and through partners True North Team Building.
Opened in 2014 in nearby Lanesborough, Ramblewild is a pioneering aerial adventure park offering a true immersion experience of ziplines and other challenges under the canopy of a 900-acre mountain forest reserve. Set along the Deerfield River in the eastern Berkshires, Zoar Outdoor offers classes and programs including white-water rafting, kayaking, rock climbing and more.
Golfing groups also have premier group property Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club in Lenox.
