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Last year, we learned the Boston Celtics had hit the market after their ownership group decided to put the franchise it’s controlled since 2003 up for sale. It took a while, but they’ve gotten a very sizeable return on their investment after finding a new owner in a record-breaking deal.
The Boston Celtics are one of the oldest teams in the NBA and also one of the most hallowed thanks to a storied history defined by legends including Bill Russell and Larry Bird and the 18 championships that make them more accomplished than any other team in the league.
The franchise was dealing with an unprecedented title drought in the early 2000s when Paul Gaston offloaded the team to an ownership group led by Wyc Grousbeck, H. Irving Grousbeck, and Stephen Pagliuca that dropped $360 million to buy them in 2003.
In 2008, The Celtics brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Boston for the first time in 22 years thanks to the “Big 3” comprised of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, and while it took them another 16 seasons to take sole possession of first place on the NBA title front, the team is firmly trending in the right direction under the guidance of Joe Mazzulla.
In 2024, the current owners announced they were ready to cash out, and there was little doubt they were going to make bank when you consider Forbes valued the franchise at $6 billion.
That turned out to be a pretty accurate estimate, as Shams Charania reports the Celtics have a new owner after Bill Chisholm, the managing partner, CIO, and co-founder of the California-based Symphony Technology Group, purchased the franchise for a whopping $6.1 billion.
BREAKING: Bill Chisholm, managing partner at Symphony Technology Group, has agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics from the Grousbeck family for a valuation for $6.1 billion, sources tell ESPN. This now is the largest sale for a sports franchise in North America. pic.twitter.com/iPphqSQswe
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 20, 2025
As Charania notes, the sale breaks the record for the most expensive North American sports franchise ever sold, which was previously set when the Commanders traded hands for $6.05 billion in 2023 (as far as I can tell, it’s also the most expensive one in the history of sports).
It’s also 1,594% more than the Celtics sold for toward the beginning of the millennium, so it’s pretty easy to see why sports teams are currently considered one of the best investments you can make if you have way too much money at your disposal.