Celtics reportedly to sell to Bill Chisholm for North American record $6.1 billion

Bay Area tech investor Bill Chisholm has agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics for a record $6.1 billion — the most ever paid for any North American sports franchise, just edging out the $6 billion paid for the NFL's Washington Commanders, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

Chisholm is purchasing a championship team — Boston won the NBA title a season ago and is among the favorites to win this season. The team is set up to contend for seasons to come, but it's going to get very expensive for ownership to keep the team at that level.

The Celtics were put up for sale last summer by the majority owner Grousbeck family, which was the majority of the Boston Basketball Partners, a group of investors who owned the team. Wyc Grousbeck is the face and team governor, but his father, Irving Grousbeck, 90, was the largest single owner in the family (about 20% of the team) and reportedly had pushed for the sale.

The Grousbecks were selling a 51% interest in the team in phases starting now and running until 2028, with Wyc Grousbeck remaining the team's governor until then. Whether Chisolm or the NBA — which just saw a messy sale of the Milwaukee Bucks to Mark Lore and Alex Rodriguez in part because of a dragged-out sale — will want this sale to close sooner remains to be seen.

Chisholm is the managing partner of Symphony Technology Group (STG), a San Francisco-based private equity firm that invests in "market leaders across the mid-market software and software-enabled tech services landscape," according to its website. RSA and SurveyMonkey are among the better-known companies in the STG portfolio.

The NBA was hoping for a $6 billion or higher price tag for the sale because it will impact the buy-in price for expansion, if the NBA still plans to continue down that road. The Grousbeck and partners purchased the Celtics in 2002 for $360 million. The previous record price for an NBA franchise is $4 billion (what Mat Ishbia paid for the Phoenix Suns).

Beyond the purchase price, owning Celtics could be very expensive, both on and off the court, in the coming years.

On the court, keeping the Celtics' championship core together will send the team deep into the tax apron. Jaylen Brown's new max contract kicked in this season, and next season Jayson Tatum's already signed max contract begins (2025-26), plus next season there is $32.4 million to Jrue Holiday, $30.7 million for Kristaps Porzingis, $28.7 million for Derrick White and dealing with free agents like Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Payroll and taxes are expected to come out to $252 million for the Celtics this season (fourth most in the league), and that is expected to balloon up to more than $450 million for the 2025-26 season (when the repeater tax kicks in with a vengeance).

Off the court, the Celtics don't own TD Garden (it is owned by the same group that owns the NHL's Boston Bruins). There is speculation that part of the reason Chisholm purchased the team is to use them in a real estate deal to build a new arena (and likely some retail and other infrastructure around it, depending on the exact location).