Boston Celtics owners net nearly 1,700% return on record $6.1 billion sale of NBA team: Report

The NBA’s Boston Celtics are used to packing their arena with a sea of green. Now, the company’s owners, the Grousbeck family, are seeing green.

That’s because the franchise has reportedly been sold for $6.1 billion, per ESPN, to a group led by Bill Chisholm, managing partner at private equity firm Symphony Technology Group. The sale would be the largest for a sports franchise in North American history, beating out the sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders franchise two years ago, which tallied $6.05 billion.

The sale would still need to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors. Fast Company has reached out to both the Celtics and Symphony Technology Group for comment.

The sale comes on the heels of the Celtics winning the NBA championship last year, the 18th in franchise history. It was announced that the Grousbeck family, the franchise’s primary owner, would seek to sell the team last summer as well. It bought the team in 2002 for $360 million, and if the $6.1 billion sale does go through, the family would see a roughly 1,700% return on investment.

The sale also shows that sports franchise values are steadily increasing. In 2023, both the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks were also sold, for $4 billion and $3.5 billion respectively. At the tail end of that year, the Dallas Mavericks were also sold for $3.5 billion.

The $6.1 billion valuation would put the Celtics near the upper echelon of North American sports franchises. The most recent rankings from Forbes, which regularly publishes a list of the most valuable sports teams, ranks the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys at the top with an estimated value of more than $10 billion. Two other NBA franchises are among the top five: The Golden State Warriors are valued at $8.8 billion, and the New York Knicks are valued at $7.5 billion.

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