Jeff Bezos, the second-richest man in the world, might be interested in buying the Boston Celtics, according to longtime sports columnist and podcaster Bill Simmons.
“In the last few days, there’s been some, I think, legitimate buzz about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics, and I think it’s real. I think he’s going to be one of the suitors,” Simmons said on his self-named Bill Simmons Podcast Monday.
“The league wants $6 billion for the team, for the Celtics. They don’t own their arena. It’s a crazy price but they’re probably going to get it,” he added. “They want the $6 billion because they want expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas and Mexico City is kind of looming as a third team, but they want to get $6 billion apiece for two franchises for expansion, which would mean a check of $400 million to every NBA owner, all 30. So they’re trying to establish a price for this Celtics team.”
A $6 billion price tag would seemingly be palatable to Bezos, as the Amazon founder is reportedly worth $195.2 billion as of mid-August.
Wyc Grousbeck announced the intentions of Boston Basketball Partners LLC, the majority owner of the Celtics, to sell the newly crowned champions on July 1.
Co-owner Steve Pagliuca quickly announced his hopes to retain ownership of the team, but according to Simmons, it may come down to the highest bidder. Simmons said his understanding is that Wyc Grousbeck and his father, H. Irving Grousbeck, intend to get as much as they can for the team.
“He just wants the highest price. He’s not like, 'Oh these local guys, let’s cut them' -- he doesn’t care. He wants the highest price he can possibly get,” Simmons said.
Wyc Grousbeck appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” in August to clarify his role in the sale:
"The control of the team is owned by my family, so it's a family that I belong to and then I have the Celtics family I also belong to, so there's an intersection and there's an involvement," he said. "So the family has been involved for 22 years. There has been discussions and thoughts about estate planning and family planning."
Boston Basketball Partners LLC bought the Celtics in 2002 for $360 million. In July 2024, Sportico valued the team at $5.12 billion, the fourth-most valuable NBA franchise.