Just two weeks after guiding the Boston Celtics to an NBA-record 18th championship, Wyc Grousbeck is ready to cash out.
The news dominated the first full day of NBA free agency, as Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C., led by Grousbeck, announced on Monday its plan to sell the team.
Grousbeck, a Worcester native and lifelong Celtics fan, led an investment group that bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002. According to Forbes, the team is now valued at $4.7 billion, making them the fourth-most valuable team in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers.
Grousbeck announced the intention to sell ’a majority interest’ of the franchise by early 2025 and to close on a sale of ‘all the shares’ in 2028. He is slated to continue as the team’s governor until the sale concludes in 2028.
The news came as a surprise to many. Grousbeck was present throughout Boston’s pursuit of Banner 18, often imploring fans in the crowd to bring the noise at TD Garden. He also gave President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, the ‘green light’ to do whatever was necessary to get to the top.
Now, after two NBA championships, four trips to the NBA Finals, and nine Conference Finals appearances, Grousbeck is set to sell in the middle of Boston’s championship window.
On the surface, it seems shocking. However, as Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix explained to WEEI’s Jones and Mego, the timing makes sense (listen to the full interview above).
“The announcement was shocking. In the aftermath, though, as I’ve talked to enough people and ownership sources around the NBA, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. If you just look at the simple math of it all, I mean, the Celtics are probably never going to be more valuable,” Mannix said.
“You’ve got a TV deal that’s about to begin in a year or so, and everybody kind of knows what those numbers are going to be, right? We know it’s going to be a 10 or 11-year deal, $7 billion per year. The Celtics still have, have some stability with their regional sports network, which is something that scares a lot of owners out there, the future of those local broadcast rights, and they’re an NBA champion with a roster that is well positioned to be at a championship level for several years to come. Selling now not only would probably net you the biggest return, but it also saves you from what are going to be monster luxury tax bills that you have to pay over the next couple of years. Financially, selling your team right now, before the end of the year, or before the end of next season makes a lot of fiscal sense for Wyc Grousbeck if he’s looking to maximize investment.”
Now, the Celtics wait for bidders. Steve Pagliuca, who was part of the group that purchased the team in 2002, has indicated his interest in getting involved in the bidding . But as we wait and see, Mannix floated out an interesting option.
“It’s very difficult, given these valuations, to find a lot of individuals that can afford to buy these teams. It’s part of the reason why we saw that tiered buying system in Minnesota, where Mark Lore and Alex Rodriguez put up a chunk of money at a time to get to where they needed to be, and we saw kind of how that has become a catastrophe in Minnesota. So, it’s not like there are a lot of high-net-worth individuals that are interested in buying a team and have the resources to buy a team,” Mannix said.
“The interest from a potential casino magnate, and let’s use Wynn and its ownership group as an example, since they are already entrenched in Boston, is that you can build around the team like you’re buying the team, but you’re also buying everything that goes into owning a team in a specific area. So if, say, hypothetically, the Wynn bought a majority interest in the Celtics in much the same way that the Adelson [Dallas Mavericks] family bought a controlling interest in the Dallas Mavericks, you could build out an arena in Everett, which they’ve [the city] been looking to do. I mean, we know they’ve been interested in a stadium for the Revolution. They’ve been eyeballing stuff like this for a while.”
“If you bought the Celtics, you could build an arena down there and make them the centerpiece of an attraction in that area. And, again, this is not new. The Adelsons are currently in the process of doing that. If there is a team, I know it’s Vegas. But if there is a team in Las Vegas, it will almost certainly play in an arena resort of some sort that is built for them for the long term. So this is kind of a trend line in the NBA with these valuations being so big that it sort of makes a casino partner a little bit more appealing.”
“What I was kind of told in the hours after that announcement: Keep an eye on some of these, some of this casino money, coming in and trying to make a splash.”
Former Governor Charlie Baker signed An Act to Regulate Sports Wagering on August 10, 2022, legalizing sports betting in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Mobile sports betting was launched on March 10, 2023.
Regardless, the next owner will inherit a championship-ready team. However, it’s up to Grousbeck to put the franchise in good hands.
Local Boston, MA
Most Popular
Comments / 0