The Boston Celtics have a new ownership group in place but big questions still surround the future of the franchise. One frequent question that constantly has constantly arose during this transition is whether the new ownership group led by Bill Chisholm will be looking to build a new arena instead of continuing to lease the TD Garden from Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs for home games.
In an appearance on WEEI Friday morning, team governor Wyc Grousbeck tried to downplay the possibility that the team would be looking to exit the Garden.
“That’s probably not something I’m even going to get into today, but I will say this: we have a long-term partnership and friendship going back with the Jacobs now 22 years,” Grousbeck said on the Greg Hill Show Friday. “It’s been really quite something, and we’ve risen this team to close to the top of the league, like in the top three or four of the whole league, in terms of revenues, based on that lease and that building, because of our fans and because of our team.”
Grousbeck also signaled that if the team wanted to start fresh, they would likely do it in collaboration with the Bruins rather than try to build something of their own.
“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with the Jacobs. Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs, we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously – there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations. But if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.”
Chisholm was also presented with the question about the arena possibility in an interview with NBC Sports Boston on Thursday evening and struck a similar tone to Grousbeck by signaling there was no sense of urgency to move.
“No, I really haven’t put much thought into that,” Chisholm said about looking to build a new arena. “I mean, there have been a lot of banners raised in that location that the Celtics are in right now. So that’s a pretty important part of the history. We’ll get to thinking about that. But it’s also a decision that’s down the road.”
It was announced Thursday morning that a group led by Chisholm had agreed to purchase the Celtics for a record $6.1 billion. Grousbeck is expected to remain as the Celtics governor for the next three years as the purchase is completed in two parts, beginning this spring and concluding in 2028.
Several NBA teams around the league have started to look to build their own facilities in recent years, highlighted by the building of the Intuit Dome by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. Grousbeck did not sound moved by the new building when bringing it up in the interview.
“I’ve been to the Clippers’ arena,” Grousbeck said. “I just went out there a couple months ago and watched the Celtics play, right after the fires. And I’m only going to say this in this nice public forum: it’s fine. There’s no difference. It isn’t really any different. And so, I’m just telling you that that doesn’t mean you don’t want to have – it is a top-notch arena. It’s a very nice place.
“And we’re going to make, if we stay in the Garden for 50 years, we’ll make the Garden continue to have it evolve and all of that, like Fenway does, or we’ll build a new one together, or who knows what. But it shouldn’t be on everybody’s mind. We’ve got a lease in the Garden until like the 2030s, and we’ve got a good partnership with them, and we’ll both upgrade whatever we need to do to keep the fans happy, because we’re fans ourselves.”
The Celtics current lease at TD Garden extends through the 2035-36 season.
BETTING: Check out ourMA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.