Spinning forward the new BBBBBBoston Celtics

The Celtics are sold to a newcomer for a record $6.1 billion. What will happen next?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Lady With an Ermine; Leonardo da Vinci; 1489-91

The Boston Celtics were sold to a group led by private equity dude Bill Chisholm, who grew up in Boston and says he’s a lifelong Celtics fan, at a valuation of $6.1 billion. That $100 million after the decimal is important: that puts this sale above the recent Washington Commanders’ sale, which hit a record $6.05 billion. The Celtics’ sale thus becomes the highest-price North American sports franchise transfer ever. And the Celtics didn’t even come with an arena or a WNBA franchise.

Wyc Grousbeck, the governor of the team for the past 23 years and someone who apparently never wanted to sell the team, agreed to remain on as CEO and governor for the next three seasons. We’ll see if this is guaranteed in a contract or if this is more of the Mark Cuban variety. Needless to say, if Chisholm decides to take a more active role early, he’ll almost assuredly have the power to do so under NBA bylaws, regardless of a side deal with Grousbeck and regardless of whether Grousbeck buys back in as a minority.

The real reason the Celtics were sold now is that Grousbeck’s father, 90-year-old Irv Grousbeck, wanted to simplify his estate planning. Irv owned a bigger share than Wyc, and they only held the controlling stake as a collective, so they needed to sell outright to prevent a top minority owner like Steve Pagliuca from taking control. If only Irv sells out, my understanding is that Pagliuca becomes the new controlling owner of Boston Basketball Partners. And word is that the Grousbecks and Pagliuca do not get along. (Bill Simmons and Chris Mannix did an extensive segment on this Thursday. Dan Shaughnessy has a good piece, too: he has reported that Wyc only owned 2% of the team himself, and yet ended up with all of the spotlight at the Celtics’ high points.)

Speaking of Pagliuca: he announced immediately after the news last summer that the Grousbecks were selling that he wanted the team, and when he didn’t get the team on Thursday, he released quite a little statement.