The Boston Celtics are no longer under the ownership of the Grousbeck family, as Shams Charania is reporting that the franchise completed a sale worth $6.1 billion to Bill Chisholm, the managing partner of Symphony Technology Holdings. This deal sets a new record for the most expensive team sale in North America, surpassing NFL team Washington Commanders, who were sold for $6.05 billion.
The Grousbeck family had owned the Celtics via their Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. group since 2002 when they bought the franchise with several partners for $360 million. By selling for $6.1 billion, the owners have flipped the team for almost 17 times what they paid for it 23 years ago.
The ownership group had announced their intention to sell the team in the aftermath of the Celtics’ 2024 NBA championship win. The initial expectation was that the team could fetch up to $5 billion in any sale. However, as early as January of this year, we heard rumors that the sale price was near $6 billion.
Given that the Celtics just won an NBA championship, and could feasibly win another title this year, the question is being asked as to why the Grousbeck family is choosing to sell the team now. Well, it’s their massive payroll that played a big factor.
The Celtics house two of the highest-paid players in the NBA – Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. On top of that, their starters, over the next five seasons (including the current 2024-25 season) are set to earn $1 billion in salaries alone.
Given the increasing salary cost, combined with the NBA’s salary cap rules penalizing teams for having expensive wage bills, the cost of running a championship franchise was suddenly too high for the Grousbeck family.
A big question, as such, has to be asked in the aftermath of this sale – are the new owners going to be willing to shell out the money needed to house a winning basketball team? We have seen an owner’s willingness to spend money be the difference between a championship team and a bust.
Just look at the Golden State Warriors, for example. Joe Lacob’s willingness to delve into the luxury tax allowed the franchise to go from one-time winners to a dynasty in the 2010s and 2020s, as they went on to win four NBA championships and reach six NBA Finals in an eight-year span.
Even a team like the Phoenix Suns, who are far from contenders, had the financial backing of Mat Ishbia, who put together what is currently the most expensive team in NBA history with the hopes that it would bring the franchise an NBA championship. While Ishbia’s efforts haven’t worked, he cannot be shamed for being open with his purse strings to build a contender.
This new deal has gone into effect, but we don’t know what the payment structure is like, or any other pertinent details. But this move could mark a new era for the Celtics – for better or for worse.
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