The Boston Celtics winning championship No. 18 was a result of the continuous development of two young stars and surrounding them with complementary talent. The byproduct of it was that the franchise had to hand out record-breaking $300 million contracts to secure their future.
Now, those contracts and those of the other players have been touted as the reason the franchise is up for sale. The New York Post ran an exclusive article where they revealed what went behind the scenes between the owners. Their source was quoted talking about the situation.
That’s what happens when dad puts in most of the money. Wyc says we’ll spend whatever it takes, but dad wasn’t into losing money.
Source to Josh Kosman and Brian Lewis via The New York Post
The sources’ words indicate majority owner Irving Grousbeck does not want to continue funding losses. This comes after the son and face of the ownership group Wyc Grousbeck pushed the team’s bill going forward to $500 million.
The problem Irving Grousbeck has is that the revenue the Boston Celtics generate will not cover those bills. They do not earn anything from their home arena, TD Garden, as another multi-billion conglomerate owns it. That lack of earnings suggests the Celtics will continue to lose money over the long term.
These situations seem to have forced senior Grousbeck to decide to cash in when the time is right. The Grousbeck’s bought the team for $360 million in 2002. If they can get their share of the $4.7 billion valuation, it will net a tremendous profit. Unless Wyc Grousbeck’s handling has potential buyers running scared.
Investors will be wary of Boston Celtics’ massive salary
Handing out $300 million contracts to both their leading superstars is one thing. Continuing to pay the rest will impose a staggering $280 million in player salaries alone in 2025-26. That will invoke the NBA’s second Apron’s stringent penalties. This could see the owners cough up approximately $220 million in luxury tax that season. That is, before even bringing the draft picks to light, they will lose.
These conditions and the lack of earnings from TD Garden might scare away potential investors. No one would want to part with close to $4 billion as the purchase price and then cough up half a billion every year. That is before considering Celtics fans pressuring the owners to keep certain players down the line.
The Fenway Sports Group and LeBron James were initially thought to be interested in purchasing the team. However, they preferred to focus on the much more lucrative Las Vegas expansion franchise. Other big groups have also shown interest.
All of this points to the need to inject a lot of money to keep the team afloat. Had Wyc Grousbeck taken a more conservative approach, not only would he continue to be the face of his hometown team but also eventually be the majority controlling owner.
