The ownership group of the Boston Celtics has decided to put the club up for sale. The announcement comes weeks after the team was crowned NBA champion for the first time in 16 years and won its 18th title, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the historic battle. In addition, the club is keeping the team for next season. It already had most of the players tied up and has also just reached agreements to extend the contract of Jayson Tatum, one of its two biggest stars, and Derrick White, who has become another key piece of the team.
“Boston Basketball Partners LLC, the ownership group of the Boston Celtics, today announced its intention to sell all of its equity in the team,” the company said in a statement. “The family that controls the ownership group, after considerable internal reflection and discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning reasons.”
The ownership group’s board of directors expects to sell a majority stake in 2024 or early 2025, and the remainder in 2028, and expects Wyc Grousbeck, of the ownership family, to remain the team’s manager until the closing of that second transaction, in 2028, the statement said.
A competitive process for that stake is likely to open, which will lead to a market valuation. Last year, Forbes valued the team at $4.7 billion, but that was before it began to flourish.
Boston Basketball Partners is run by private equity investors Wyc Grousbeck, his father H. Irving Grousbeck, and Steve Pagliuca. The group purchased the Celtics for $360 million from the Gaston family in 2002. The Gastons had owned the team since 1983.
In an email to Celtics employees obtained by the Associated Press, Wyc Grousbeck wrote that they are “committed to finding a worthy incoming ownership group that will lead the Celtics to more decades of success.” He added: “There will be a thoughtful and thorough process to find a buyer who recognizes the importance of Celtic Pride on the court and in the community.”
Last year, the Phoenix Suns were purchased by mortgage company owner Mat Ishbia for $4 billion. That was followed by the sale of the Milwaukee Bucks to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for $3.5 billion. Last November, Mark Cuban agreed to sell a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont, who run the Las Vegas Sands casino company, for $3.5 billion.
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