A “Consider in Boston” flag flies throughout the duck boat parade celebrating the Boston Celtics’ 18th NBA championship.
Stan Grossfeld | Boston Globe | Getty Photos
The 2024 Nationwide Basketball Affiliation champions are up on the market.
The Boston Celtics’ possession group introduced Monday that it plans to promote the staff, in response to a press release posted to the Celtics’ account on social media website X.
The controlling household of the possession group, Boston Basketball Companions LLC, mentioned it intends to promote all of its shares within the staff “for property and household planning consideration.”
The sale of a majority stake is anticipated to be accomplished by the tip of 2024 or early 2025, with the rest of the sale closing in 2028, in response to the assertion.
As sports activities franchise valuations soar, the Celtics may fetch a very excessive worth. The staff is among the many most profitable and most generally adopted in U.S. skilled sports activities, and received its NBA file 18th championship final month.
This, plus the hovering value of sports activities media rights, will probably result in a valuation near — if no more than — the file $4 billion price ticket the NBA’s Phoenix Suns obtained in 2023, sports activities consultants mentioned Monday.
Wyc Grousbeck led a staff of consumers to accumulate the Celtics for $360 million in 2002. Grousbeck, a local of Massachusetts and lifelong Celtics fan, expects to stay governor of the staff till the second closing in 2028.
Grousbeck can be a part of the possession group behind the tequila model Cincoro, which incorporates different NBA staff homeowners and Corridor of Famer Michael Jordan.
Representatives for Grousbeck and the staff didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s requests for remark.
Jaylen Brown, #7 of the Boston Celtics, shoots a three-point basket towards the Dallas Mavericks throughout Recreation 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Backyard in Boston on June 17, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Photos
Sports activities valuations, media rights climb
The Celtics turned the newest NBA champions after beating the Dallas Mavericks in Recreation 5 of the Finals in June. It was the staff’s second championship below Grousbeck’s possession.
U.S. skilled sports activities groups, particularly these within the Nationwide Soccer League and NBA, have been garnering excessive valuations when homeowners promote a stake, if not the whole lot of the staff.
In 2023, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury had been offered to Mat Ishbia for a file valuation of $4 billion.
In the meantime, the media rights for the leagues have by no means been extra profitable, as dwell sports activities beckon the most important TV audiences.
Negotiations surrounding the NBA’s media rights are ongoing with an announcement anticipated quickly. Comcast‘s NBCUniversal is anticipated to pay $2.5 billion per 12 months, with Disney‘s ESPN and Amazon’s Prime Video among the many different bidders, CNBC has beforehand reported.
— CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this text.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the mum or dad firm of CNBC.