The Boston Celtics have entered the market following an announcement for selling that shocked the sporting media on Monday. If a deal is completed, it will certainly top the record for the richest price ever paid for an NBA team ( Phoenix Suns,$ 4 billion ) and could set a mark across all sports ( Washington Commanders,$ 6.05 billion ).
In December, Sportico valued the Celtics at$ 5.12 billion, fourth in the NBA and well behind the Golden State Warriors ($ 8.28 billion ), New York Knicks ($ 7.43 billion ) and Los Angeles Lakers ($ 7.34 billion ).
The Celtics may command a premium over that price, with the upcoming TV deal on track for a bigger boost than what most Sport insiders anticipated at the end of 2023. How investors weigh the product against the business is a crucial factor in the final purchase price.

The Celtics ‘ product is one of the strongest in the sport, thanks to its history 18 NBA names, one more than the Lakers. Yes, just two of those were since 1985, but the Celtics are the reigning leaders, have most of their key people locked up under commitment, and possess a huge and devoted fan base.
NBA valuations have soared in recent years with the average team worth$ 4 billion, up 70 % from Sportico’s initial NBA valuations three years earlier. The Celtics ‘ bankers will make the ball that the wealthy sports brands often appear for sale in major U.S. sports leagues like the NBA.
Among the five most valuable NBA teams, the Lakers ( 1979 ), Chicago Bulls ( 1985 ) and Knicks ( 1997 ) were all sold more than 25 years ago. In 2002, Wyc Grousbeck’s group paid$ 360 million for Boston, while Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid$ 450 million for the Soldiers eight years later. Of course, the Soldiers of 2010 were no today’s Soldiers atop the NBA economic table. The team played in the league’s oldest building—not the$ 1.4 billion Chase Center—and had not been to the NBA Finals since 1975—something it has done six times in the past decade.
The top five clubs in their respective leagues, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, were the last two to sell, both in 2012. Others, like the Chicago Blackhawks ( 1954), New York Yankees ( 1973 ) and Boston Bruins ( 1975 ), have stayed in their ownership families for decades.
Only the Los Angeles Rams, one of the five most important clubs in the NFL, changed hands in the last 40 years, making the ordinary career ownership-free streak last for 40 decades. The Rams that Stan Kroenke paid$ 750 million for in 2010 were bottom of the league in revenue and played in St. Louis—not in a$ 5.5 billion facility in Los Angeles.
Team proprietors have typically made money from property appreciation when selling the squad. Rare instances include Bob Johnson’s 2010 unloading of the Charlotte Hornets and CBS ‘ 1973 price of the Yankees. If you exclude the NFL, big profits on a yr- to- time foundation are uncommon. Instead of using income multiples to benefit sports teams, there is a reason why bankers use revenue multiples. Nvidia’s P/E of 72 may seem inexpensive in comparison to some sports team.

” We are losing money”, Grousbeck told the Boston Globe last quarter. ” We are indifferent by that”.
He said the costs are tied to the group’s payment that will cause a luxury tax invoice of$ 48 million for the 2023- 24 time, according to Spotrac quotes.
The costs are just headed higher. On Monday, the Celtics reached contract extensions with Derrick White ($ 126 million ) and Jayson Tatum ($ 314 million ). Temple and Jaylen Brown, the two participants with the most lucrative contracts in NBA history, are now employed by the Celtics for$ 285 million. Perhaps if they fill out the rest of their lineup with the lowest-paid people, the pleasure tax bill for 2026 should be at least$ 180 million. This is on top of a pay exceeding$ 220 million.
Due to Delaware North, which also owns the Bruins, the Celtics do not own or run their area, which is another challenging aspect of their business. The only top-five teams in the four biggest U.S. sports leagues that do n’t run their venues are the Celtics and Lakers.
The Celtics do n’t make any money from non-NAB events because they are a tenant, which means they do n’t. The team’s revenue-sharing system, which funnels more than$ 350 million to low-revenue teams, does not include income from concerts and other events, with the best clubs receiving about half the costs.
Joe and Clara Tsai recently sold a 15 % stake at a$ 6 billion valuation for BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center and WNBA’s New York Liberty. Although Barclays is a busy market and all of the economic activity is done by BSE, the Celtics are a much more important brand than the Nets. In April, Barclays was the highest- taking area in the world, according to Billboard.
Even with the limitations of the market, the Celtics managed to make the fourth-highest money in the NBA during the 2022- 23 time, including the quarterfinals when the Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. However, there is still a significant difference between them and the Lakers and Knicks, who both make almost 50 % more in regular-season ticket sales than the Soldiers, who are almost twice as high.
If the Celtics sell, it would be the fifth NBA team to trade in the last two years, joining the Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks and Hornets. A sixth, the Minnesota Timberwolves, is currently entering arbitration to settle future ownership.