New details emerge about Celtics sale, what to expect from new owner
More details have emerged about the sale of the Boston Celtics, the club’s new ownership, and what it will all look like in the coming years.
First, fresh reporting on the sale itself: Dan Primack reported Thursday at Axios that they’ve only initiated the first phase of the sale, after Wyc Grousbeck previously said it would take place in two parts. After the second phase of the sale is complete, the final valuation is expected to be $7.3 billion.
Bill Chisholm, managing partner and chief investment officer at the Symphony Technology Group in Menlo Park, Calif., is buying a majority stake in the Celtics at an initial valuation of $6.1 billion, which was just enough to top the 2023 sale of the Washington Commanders ($6.05 billion) for the biggest-ever sale of a North American sports franchise.
Chisholm grew up in Georgetown, Mass. and earned his Bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth College. He is a “longtime Celtics fan,” according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, who first reported news of the sale Thursday morning.
Coming Home
One thing Chisholm is going to have to do as the new Celtics owner, in order to endear himself to the fans and the city, is to be visible. He won’t be able to do that while living in California year-round.
According to Himmelsbach, Chisholm does intend to buy a new home in Boston, now that he’s secured the winning bid for the Celtics. He already owned a home in Nantucket. Himmelsbach added that Chisholm has an “encyclopedic knowledge” of the team, which could allay concerns about his interest in maintaining the team as a championship contender in the NBA.
Sticking Around
It was initially reported that Wyc Grousbeck would stay on for a time after the completion of the sale. Grousbeck himself confirmed that in a statement on Thursday, via Businesswire. Grousbeck will stay on as CEO and governor for the first three years of Chisholm’s ownership.
“I know [Chisholm] appreciates the importance of the Celtics and burns with a passion to win on the court while being totally committed to the community,” Grousbeck said. “Quite simply, he wants to be a great owner.”
‘Iced Out’
There’s a whole other side to this story, with juicy details possible to surface in the near future. Former co-owner Steve Pagliuca was also in the running to acquire a majority stake in the Celtics, but ultimately came up short. Pagliuca expressed his disappointment in a new statement on Thursday — and seemed to warn about potential problems with Chisholm’s ownership.
“I recruited new partners with deep resources and expertise in technology and international markets to maximize the Celtics’ successes to ensure we can always compete for Championships, luxury taxes be damned,” Pagliuca’s statement reads. “We made a fully guaranteed and financed offer at a record price, befitting the best sports fans in the world, and with all the capital coming from individuals who are fully committed to winning on and off the court. We had no debt or private equity money that would potentially hamstring our ability to compete in the future.
“We have felt it was the best offer for the Celtics. It is a bid of true fans, deeply connected to Boston’s community, and we’ve been saddened to find out that we have not been selected in the process.”
The word “selected” sticks out. And as described by Celtics insider Chris Mannix, Pagliuca wasn’t just passed over for selection, but “iced out” altogether. Did Grousbeck pick Chisholm because he would retain more power running the team over the next few years than he would have under Pagliuca?
Chisholm’s Symphony Technology Group (also known by its abbreviation, STG) is literally a private equity firm. So when Pagliuca is talking about business dealings that “would potentially hamstring” the Celtics’ “ability to compete in the future,” he’s ostensibly pointing the proverbial finger right at Chisholm.
Then there’s the “luxury taxes be damned” part … that heavily implies that Chisholm and his partners would not disregard the luxury tax, that they would work toward getting under it. Can they do that while maintaining the Celtics’ status as perennial championship contenders?
The C’s are on the books for more than $562 million guaranteed to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown over the next five seasons. Even if the Chisholm-owned C’s kept the star duo together, Pagliuca seems skeptical that they’d continue to spend on the overall roster to the extent that the team did under Grousbeck.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
