Boston Celtics sold for $6.1bn

June 2025 | DEALFRONT | PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE CAPITAL

Financier Worldwide Magazine

June 2025 Issue

Reigning NBA champions the Boston Celtics have been sold to a private equity (PE)-backed consortium led by Bill Chisholm, co-founder of STG Partners, for $6.1bn, marking the largest PE-led takeover of a sports franchise and setting a new record for NBA team valuations.

The sale, which is pending approval from the NBA board of governors, would break the record for the most expensive sports team purchase in North America, surpassing the $4bn purchase of the Phoenix Suns in 2022 and the $6.05bn paid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders in 2023.

Sixth Street, a major PE firm, has committed over $1bn to the Celtics deal, marking its second major sports investment in quick succession following its acquisition of a 10 percent stake in the San Francisco Giants. The investor consortium also includes Bruce A. Beal Jr, president of Related Companies, and Rob Hale, an existing Celtics investor and founder of Granite Telecommunications. Upon completion of the deal, current Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck will retain his position until the end of the 2027-28 season before fully transitioning control to the new ownership group.

“Bill is a terrific person and a true Celtics fan, born and raised here in the Boston area,” said Mr Grousbeck. “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. I know he appreciates the importance of the Celtics and burns with a passion to win on the court while being totally committed to the community. Quite simply, he wants to be a great owner. He has asked me to run the team as CEO and Governor for the first three years, and stay on as his partner, and I am glad to do so.”

“Growing up on the North Shore and attending college in New England, I have been a die-hard Celtics fan my entire life,” said Mr Chisholm. “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.

“My partners and I have immense respect for Wyc, the entire Grousbeck family and their indelible contributions to the Celtics organization over the last 23 years,” he continued. “We look forward to learning from Wyc and partnering with Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla and the talented team and staff to build upon their success as we work to bring more championships home to Boston.”

The Celtics’ former ownership group, led by Mr Grousbeck and Bain Capital’s Stephen Pagliuca, originally purchased the team for $360m in 2002 and has benefitted significantly from the exponential rise in franchise valuations.

Yet despite the franchise’s long and successful history, the Celtics continue to face a number of unique financial challenges, particularly when compared to other major US sports franchises, including high player payroll costs and the fact that the team does not own its home arena, TD Garden, which is held by Delaware North. Regardless, in 2024, Forbes ranked the Celtics the fourth-most valuable NBA team at $6bn, with the Golden State Warriors first at an estimated $8.8bn.

The Grousbeck family announced they intended to sell the team back in July 2024, hoping to do so in a two-part process. The first part of the sale was for 51 percent of the team in 2025, while the remaining portion of the sale would go through in 2028.

Richard Summerfield