The Celtics will have a new owner, and North American sports will have a new bar to clear for a team’s sale.
Bill Chisholm, managing partner at Symphony Technology Group, has agreed to buy the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion, multiple outlets reported Thursday, pending the NBA Board of Governors’ approval.
The sum would break the record for a North American sports franchise in surpassing the Washington Commanders, which had sold to a group led by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion.
The $6.1 billion would shatter the previous high in the NBA, set in 2023 when Mat Ishbia purchased the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion. Before that sale, the Milwaukee Bucks were sold for $3.5 billion, and Mark Cuban sold the majority of his Dallas Mavericks shares for $3.5 billion.
The Grousbeck family announced last July — weeks after the franchise won its record 18th championship — that they would put the Celtics up for sale “for estate and family planning considerations.” The Post later reported that patriarch and nonagenarian Irving Grousbeck and son Wyc Grousbeck disagreed over payroll while putting together the NBA’s most expensive roster, which led to a title, a family rift and a team sale.
Wyc is expected to remain governor and oversee team operations through the 2027-28 season, according to various reports. The Grousbecks were the lead investors in the group that bought the team for $360 million in 2002.
Chisholm is a lifelong Celtics fan who grew up in Boston and is a cofounder of STG, a private-equity firm based in California. He graduated from Dartmouth and received his masters from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, according to his Symphony Technology Group biography.
“At STG, Bill leads the firm’s investment activities and assumes a hands-on approach in the day-to-day management of STG companies,” the bio reads. “From strategic discussions to mining innovation opportunities, Bill acts as a sounding board on a variety of issues.”
Among other reported bidders for the Celtics were minority owner Stephen Pagliuca and Philadelphia Phillies minority owner Stan Middleman. The Boston Globe, citing league sources, reported that team president Brad Stevens met with the final four candidates in the month preceding the sale.
The Celtics are in second in the Eastern Conference as they try to win back-to-back titles. One of their stars, Jayson Tatum, hopes for stability.
“I look forward to whoever it is,” Tatum said this week, according to the Globe. “I trust [Grousbeck] and those guys in their decision. And understanding the culture that we’ve set and we have, and sustaining that and trying to make it better.
“We’ve got some great people in this organization and on this team and we’ve worked really hard to build something special. I trust that they’ll make the right decisions in whoever that next group is.”
