Latest news with #Grousbeck
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Under New Management, The Boston Celtics Head To An Uncertain Future
The Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum high five during the 2024 Eastern Conference ... More Finals. (Photo by) Only one thing is for certain: should the league approve the sale of the Boston Celtics to Bill Chisholm—which is still apparently an open question—the franchise will soon look different than it does now. Then again, that would probably be the case no matter what. If there was one hallmark of the team under its outgoing ownership, it was probably perpetual change. Wyc Grousbeck became the majority owner of the Celtics when his group purchased the franchise for a mere $360 million in 2002. It was a big risk at the time, but it obviously paid off in the ensuing decades, given that he and his father just sold the team for $6.1 billion. It was Grousbeck's first major gamble that ultimately paid off, but it wouldn't be the last. Just a few days ago, Boston clinched its 11th division title. In that time frame, the Celtics have appeared in four NBA Finals and hung up two additional championship banners at TD Garden. The Celtics' success came due to ownership's refusal to stand still, something reflected by Grousbeck's choice in de facto GMs: Danny Ainge and his successor Brad Stevens. 'Trader Danny' was known for making unsentimental moves, seemingly to know exactly when to part ways with key players right when he could get maximum value for them. It was Ainge who, when the ping pong balls didn't bounce his team's way in 2007, gutted an underachieving roster in order to team up homegrown star Paul Pierce with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The very next year, the Celtics won their first title since 1986. When the Celtics failed to win a second title with The New Big Three, Ainge sent Pierce and Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets for a bevy of first-round picks. In 2017, one of those Nets picks ended up being first overall, which Ainge shockingly traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, who used it on Markelle Fultz. Instead, Ainge selected the player he wanted all along at No. 3: Jayson Tatum. The rest was history: Fultz ended up lasting two disappointing years in Philadelphia while Tatum joined Jaylen Brown to form the nucleus of the modern-day Celtics, the current defending champions. For a team well known for parting ways with its biggest names, the most surprising thing they did under Grousbeck might have been keeping the Brown-Tatum tandem together despite an increasingly frustrating series of playoff exits. Ignoring calls to break up the two, Grousbeck would eventually end up breaking the bank in order to keep them both on the roster long-term. Once again, his instincts proved to be correct. While the Celtics had regular season success pairing up the Jays with Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker, nothing compared to the 64-18 record they put together last season. They outdid themselves in the postseason, losing just three games total. It turned out that Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, combined with a second tour of duty by the venerable Al Horford, were the keys to finally secure their first championship since the New Big Three era. Then came the most shocking moment in a Celtics era that was crammed full of them. They had barely cleaned the confetti from Boylston Street when ownership announced that they were selling the team. From all accounts, the decision was not Grousbeck's alone but one made in consultation with his father. Grousbeck will, in fact, be staying in as governor until at least the 2027-28 season. He made it clear that he still had a stake in the team by having Stevens keep the core of last season's team together during his final offseason as the final decision-maker. He's hoping for one last hurrah. Sooner rather than later, however, the Celtics will be under new management (even if Chisholm has floated the idea of keeping Grousbeck around longer). It's impossible to predict what the team will look like just a year from now, especially since the new owners will have to deal with a payroll that could balloon to over $500 million next season. Is there anything we can predict? Eventually, the Celtics will part ways with at least one of the two Jays, possibly both, but that was probably inevitable no matter what the sale. Very few individual stars spend their entire careers with one franchise. It's impossible to imagine a duo doing so. It's also likely that the new owners, inheriting a team that apparently failed to turn a profit during its most recent championship season, will make their own swings. For instance, the Celtics currently don't own their own stadium, instead leasing TD Garden from the Boston Bruins. That lease ends in 2036, by which time they will likely be on the move. Whatever the new owners' plans end up being, it will be somebody else's job to break them down. After nearly 14 years of covering the NBA in various outlets, I'm leaving the subject behind to seek out other pursuits. It's been a pleasure getting paid to ramble about basketball, but I've learned one valuable lesson from the Celtics in this time period: sometimes it's best to risk making a move too early than making one too late.
USA Today
24-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Is Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck hinting his successor plans to cut salary?
Is current Boston Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck signaling his successor plans to cut salary from the team's championship-caliber roster? Speaking to the media in a recent appearance on WEEI's "Greg Hill Show," the lead Celtics Governor may have tipped his hand regarding how he will be calling the shots for presumptive new majority owner Bill Chisholm when he transitions into the team's CEO once Chisholm replaces him as majority owner. The Celtics, who will have the most expensive roster (clocking in at around $500 million in salary and taxes) in NBA history next season if no changes are made, are set to enter their first season dealing with the harshest penalties the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) allows for being a multi-season second-apron ball club. But it isn't the tax hit that will be the main concern, suggests the Celtics head honcho. "It's not the luxury tax bill, it's the basketball penalties," said Grousbeck via NBC Sports' Kurt Helin. "The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy." "They decided that it's not good enough to go after the wallets because the fans can be like, 'Hey find someone who can afford to spend $500 million dollars a year or whatever it is, like the English Premier League (...)," he added. "The basketball penalties mean that it's even more of a premium now to have your basketball general manager be brilliant and lucky." "Because you have to navigate because you can't stay in the second apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years." Is Grousbeck signaling the length of the runway this iteration of the team will have? Or is this a general assessment of the lay of the league? Only time will tell. Listen to the "Celtics Lab" podcast on: Apple Podcasts: Spotify:
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the Boston Celtics' new ownership could be a bad omen for all sports fans
The Boston Celtics, who have won more NBA championships than any other team, were sold for $6.1 billion last week, the most money ever for a professional sports franchise in North America. But outgoing minority owner Steve Pagliuca, whose bid was rejected, suggested the sale could mean bad news for the team's faithful fans because of the private equity money reportedly going into the purchase. The team is being bought by a group led by Bill Chisholm, managing partner of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC that Sixth Street, a Boston private equity firm, is putting $1 billion toward the purchase. Pagliuca believes his offer was better, and he dropped a warning all sports fans should take note of. '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,' Pagliuca wrote on X Thursday. '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.' Pagliuca is likely disappointed that his offer was spurned for a group of Johnny-come-latelies. Still, his calling out private equity money should raise eyebrows because he himself is a senior adviser at Bain Capital. Pagliuca is telling Celtics fans that there's a conflict between the interests of private equity money and a commitment to winning. If anyone would know about the mindset at private equity firms, he would. He's a private equity guy who knows what such firms want, and he sees that as enough of a potential challenge for the Celtics to say so publicly — before NBA owners vote to approve the sale. Sixth Street already owns a piece of the San Antonio Spurs and landed a deal for 10% of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants the same week as the Celtics purchase. A faceless, big-money group owning a sliver of the Celtics may not immediately cause alarm. But we're witnessing a creeping shift in sports ownership that could have big future implications. Most American pro teams are still owned by individuals, families or investor groups that combine the two. For better or worse, owners are often the faces of their franchises. That's why their personalities become associated with their teams' personalities and why fans and journalists hold them personally accountable when their teams stink or there's some scandal. Everybody knows Jerry Jones owns the Dallas Cowboys and Robert Kraft owns the New England Patriots. As for the Celtics, outgoing owner Wyc Grousbeck sat in front of cameras himself to announce he was suspending then-Celtics coach Ime Udoka for having a personal relationship with a team employee. When Grousbeck's group bought the Celtics in 2002, the team was struggling. It hadn't won a championship in 16 years. Grousbeck will be remembered in Boston for drafting superstars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and assembling rosters that made it to four NBA Finals and won two championships. Nothing's to say that private equity owners won't have similar success, but as Pagliuca must know, such firms are best known for cold-blooded efficiency. We've seen them downsize companies however they can: cutting salaries, selling off underperforming units, mass layoffs and holding fire sales on real estate. Do such firms expect that business model to translate to pro sports, where profits depend on television broadcast contracts, sponsorship deals, revenue sharing and sweetheart arena leases struck with local officials who consider teams civic assets right along with public water infrastructure? Will such investors be as willing to spend up to the NBA's salary cap or to exceed it with 'luxury tax' spending? Might they be even more cutthroat than some individual owners have been about relocating teams if local officials and taxpayers balk at building new stadiums or arenas? Or will the opposite be true and their billions kick off a spending spree that sends player salaries further into the stratosphere. Answers to those questions are forthcoming because private equity ownership of U.S. sports teams is likely to expand. In the case of the San Francisco Giants' Sixth Street deal, financial details weren't disclosed, but with the team valued at a reported $4.2 billion, that would mean a $420 million cash infusion to a franchise that plays in a league with no salary cap. Last year, the NFL, for the first time, approved the sale of as much as 10% of teams' equity to a list of approved private equity investors, with Sixth Street among them. Last month, the New York Giants' owners said they're looking into selling a minority stake, and you can be sure all the approved firms are taking a look. One way or another, most sports fans will soon know just how many strings are attached to private equity firms' purses, and whether they care more about winning and entertaining their fans or squeezing out a profit. This article was originally published on
ARN News Center
21-03-2025
- Business
- ARN News Center
NBA's Boston Celtics agree record-breaking $6.1 billion sale
The reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics have agreed to a $6.1 billion (AED 22.4 billion) sale to a group headed by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group co-founder William Chisholm, the team said on Thursday. The sale, which is still pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors, would break the record for most expensive sports team purchase in North America, eclipsing the $6.05 billion (AED 22.3 billion) paid for the NFL's Washington Commanders in 2023. "Bill is a terrific person and a true Celtics fan, born and raised here in the Boston area," Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck said in a news release. "His love for the team and the city of Boston, along with his chemistry with the rest of the Celtics leadership, make him a natural choice to be the next Governor and controlling owner of the team." Grousbeck will continue in his roles of Celtics CEO and Governor, overseeing team operations, through the 2027-2028 NBA season. In addition to Chisholm and Grousbeck, the ownership group also includes Boston business executives and philanthropists Rob Hale, a current Celtics owner, and Bruce A. Beal Jr., among others. "Growing up on the North Shore and attending college in New England, I have been a die-hard Celtics fan my entire life," Chisholm said. "I understand how important the Celtics are to the city of Boston – the role the team plays in the community is different than any other city in the country. "I also understand that there is a responsibility as a leader of the organization to the people of Boston, and I am up for this challenge." The Celtics, who lifted their 18th NBA championship last year to break a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history, announced last July their intention to sell the team.
Dubai Eye
21-03-2025
- Business
- Dubai Eye
NBA's Boston Celtics agree record-breaking $6.1 billion sale
The reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics have agreed to a $6.1 billion (AED 22.4 billion) sale to a group headed by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group co-founder William Chisholm, the team said on Thursday. The sale, which is still pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors, would break the record for most expensive sports team purchase in North America, eclipsing the $6.05 billion (AED 22.3 billion) paid for the NFL's Washington Commanders in 2023. "Bill is a terrific person and a true Celtics fan, born and raised here in the Boston area," Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck said in a news release. "His love for the team and the city of Boston, along with his chemistry with the rest of the Celtics leadership, make him a natural choice to be the next Governor and controlling owner of the team." Grousbeck will continue in his roles of Celtics CEO and Governor, overseeing team operations, through the 2027-2028 NBA season. In addition to Chisholm and Grousbeck, the ownership group also includes Boston business executives and philanthropists Rob Hale, a current Celtics owner, and Bruce A. Beal Jr., among others. "Growing up on the North Shore and attending college in New England, I have been a die-hard Celtics fan my entire life," Chisholm said. "I understand how important the Celtics are to the city of Boston – the role the team plays in the community is different than any other city in the country. "I also understand that there is a responsibility as a leader of the organization to the people of Boston, and I am up for this challenge." The Celtics, who lifted their 18th NBA championship last year to break a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history, announced last July their intention to sell the team.
