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The Boston Celtics‘ ownership group announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell the franchise for $6.1 billion to Bill Chisholm, the managing director and co-founder of the California-based private equity firm Symphony Technology Group.
If approved by the NBA’s board of governors, the deal will set a record for the most a North American professional sports franchise has ever sold for, surpassing the $6.05 valuation of the NFL’s Washington Commanders when Josh Harris bought the team in 2023. That same year, Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion, the most an NBA team had ever sold for at the time.
Chisholm grew up a Celtics fan in Massachusetts. His group has agreed to purchase the franchise from Boston Basketball Partners LLC, the ownership group led by the Grousbeck family.
Last July, after the franchise won its 18th championship, Boston’s ownership group announced that the team was for sale, but that Wyc Grousbeck intended to remain governor of the team until 2028. In the news release announcing the agreement and in an interview with ESPN’s Shams Charania, Grousbeck said that he will need remain governor and CEO of the team until the end of the 2027-28 season, at Chisholm’s request.
“We hoped from the beginning to find the right person with the resources and commitment to win banners, and being a great person,” Grousbeck told told ESPN. “Bill checks every box for us. I have always been a consultant and have had final say here with the Celtics since the family bought into the team, and that will continue for the next three years and we will transition.”
In the news release, Grousbeck described Chisholm as “a terrific person and a true Celtics fan,” and Chisholm said that he understands “that there is a responsibility as a leader of the organization to the people of Boston, and I am up for this challenge.” In an interview with ESPN, Chisholm said he has been a “rabid fan” of the Celtics since attending a game at the Boston Garden for his seventh birthday.
“I bleed green,” he said. “I love the Celtics. When this opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job running this franchise. So why would you mess that up? The team is in a great place right now, and I’m very sensitive to that. Wyc, Brad [Stevens] and Joe [Mazzulla] have done amazing jobs and that’s all goodness that we want to continue.”
Chisholm has had recent, in-depth conversations with Stevens, the team president, and he will speak to Mazzulla, the coach, on Thursday, according to the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.
“My approach is to win and raise banners,” Chisholm told ESPN. “That’s in the near term and the long term. I’ve had a couple of sit-downs with Brad and it’s been about aligning our goals, and extending the window of this team.”
The new ownership group will also include Sixth Street, a private equity firm; Rob Hale, who is currently a minority owner of the team; and Bruce A. Beal Jr., the president Related Companies, a real estate firm. Sixth Street, who has also invested in the San Antonio Spurs and numerous other sports teams, has agreed to invest more than $1 billion, according to Sportico’s Scott Soshnick and Ebon Novy-Williams.
“This was an extremely thorough, rigorous sale process,” the Grousbeck family said in a letter to investors, via Sportico. “We had tremendous interest from potential control owners and we’re grateful for the considerable time and effort bidders put in over the past few months, especially. In the end, Bill and the group he put together came in with a superior final bid.”
Near the end of the process, the pool of potential buyers reportedly included Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca, Philadelphia Phillies minority owner Stan Middleman and the Friedkin Group. Over the last month, Stevens met with four finalists, according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov, Jay King and Jared Weiss.
Pagliuca released a statement on social media about the outcome. It reads, in part, “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 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.”
In the statement, Pagliuca said that he will “never stop being a Celtic,” and he and his partners “are ready to check back into the game and bring it home” if the agreement with Chisholm doesn’t get approved.
In 2002, the Grousbeck family bought the team for $360 million.
