Which ownership group should Celtics fans want the most?
Thursday morning, Courtney Cox of The Greg Hill Show reported that the Boston Celtics ownership sweepstakes has narrowed down to three final groups: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Wynn Encore, and a group led by Fenway Sports Group CEO Sam Kennedy.
Since July, when Wyc Grousbeck and his family announced they'd be selling their majority stake in the team, Celtics fans have wondered how the sale could affect the team. Now that there appears to be three final contenders, how would each potential group affect a team that seems to be verging on an NBA dynasty?
Adam Jones and Rich Keefe weighed in on this on Thursday's Jones and Keefe. Listen to the full segment above beginning at the 35:50 mark.
"Jeff Bezos: good. Wynn Group: good. Fenway Sports Group: not so good," Jones said.
Of the three potential groups, Bezos has the potential to make the largest offer, given his reported net worth of $194.9 billion. The Wynn and Fenway Sports groups also have a fair amount of cash to throw around, evaluated at $8.55 billion and $12.95 billion, respectively.
"I would think the league as well as most fans around here would want Bezos," Keefe said.
"Even if you don't like Bezos, you have your reasons for not liking Bezos or whatever it might be, just owning the team, [you want] the guy with the most money and who I also don't think will micromanage it. Maybe he does, maybe he'll surprise us…I think he's just going to be like 'I have a ton of money, it's cool to own a team, I might as well own the best team.'"
Jones agreed that the mega-rich Bezos is the best owner "profile" for Celtics fans.
"I would much rather that profile, rich bazillionaire who'll just spend anything on the team. That's what the Celtics need right now with the luxury tax bills that are right around the corner. It's ready to go," Jones said.
"President of Basketball [Operations], young, good at his job. The coach, crazy…but he's young, he's good, he's not going anywhere. Your roster's all signed. All you've got to do is spend. That's all you've got to do. That's it. Spend on it, keep it together."
Wynn Resorts, which owns and operates the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett and five other casinos worldwide, could be another interesting bidder for the team.
"I think the Wynn Group is interesting. It's like, OK, you got the casino money, you have the casino, you have the site to potentially build an arena if that's the avenue you're going to go down," Jones said.
While the idea of John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group owning another franchise in Boston may have been a popular idea a decade ago, opinions have soured considerably on their management of the Red Sox.
Fans don't have to be reminded of the team's cost-cutting approach, which resulted in the trade of Mookie Betts, a surefire first-ballot Hall of Fame player.
"The Fenway Sports Group is exactly what you do not want," Jones said.
"You do not want a team that's going to nickel and dime, look to save. It's ready to go, you don't need to tear it down, pare it down. That, to me, was disheartening news."
The Celtics sale may have faded from the headlines as the basketball season got further into the rear view mirror, but Jones argues that it's still one of the biggest ongoing stories in the Boston market.
"We're hyper focused on the NFL and the Patriots, and rightfully so, but when you really think about it, what's bigger than the trajectory of the Celtics and who's going to own this team and what course do they stay on? Because it could be a budding dynasty," Jones said.
Beyond injuries or other unforeseen circumstances, one factor that could derail that budding dynasty is a sudden change in operations philosophy.
"It's one of the only things that can rock the boat," Jones said.
"When they were up 3-0 on the Mavs we were like, 'OK, is this going to be a dynasty?' We were talking about it before they even won the thing. One of the only things that can throw it off is not keeping it together. Ownership would be a huge factor in that."
