The Celtics record-breaking $6.1 billion sale to a group led by Bill Chisholm is set to be voted on by the NBA Board of Governors later this month.
Chisholm finalized the funding for his Boston ownership group last month with Robert Hale, Bruce A. Beal Jr. and Sixth Street among the known investors in the group. Chisholm’s group will take a controlling stake in the franchise in the first part of a two-part sale with 51 percent of the sale occurring this summer and with the remainder closing in 2028.
The unique arrangement led to some discussion about whether that type of two-part sale would be approved by the league after a tumultuous staged ownership transfer by the Minnesota Timberwolves over the last two years. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said back in March that the league was still digesting the transaction.
However, any concerns from a league perspective about the structure of the Celtics deal was put to rest this week when Silver was asked about the looming transaction and how it compares to the Wolves sale before the Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
I’d just say that the Boston Celtics deal I don’t think of as a staged deal,” Silver said. “They’re still in the process of completing it. It’s really more about a phase-out of current ownership. I think there Bill Chisholm, who is the incoming owner, he’s got to sort of straighten out some affairs in his life and his business. He’s currently located on the West Coast. I think he’s a huge admirer of Wyc Grousbeck and the way he’s been running that team. Obviously their results speak for themselves.”
Grousbeck is expected to remain team governor of the Celtics through 2028 as he keeps an ownership stake in the team before Chisholm takes full control.
“What he’s working out with Wyc is an opportunity for him, as I said, to learn the business from Wyc, then step in as the principal owner, the Governor of the team,” Silver added. “There would then be no switching going forward.
“I think in the situation in Minnesota, yes, as I said before, I mean, it’s not ideal to have those kinds of staged transactions. But also you learn it’s nice to state these principles, but there we were in the middle of a pandemic, and Glen Taylor was in the process of selling his team. We all agreed to something that seemed to make sense in the moment.”
The NBA Board of Governors will vote to give approval on the Celtics sale after the NBA Finals concludes.