Wyc Grousbeck still senses he’ll be involved with Celtics for ‘good period’ after sale
"We think that might be the right way to do it."
When the Celtics announced that the team was up for sale in July, they expressed that Wyc Grousbeck would remain the governor of the team for a bit of time after the new ownership group made its first payment.
With the bidding process for the majority stake of the Celtics heating up, Grousbeck believes he’ll still be around the team for a transitional phase following the sale.
“Well, it’s all playing out now so I can’t say much about it,” Grousbeck told CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning at the premiere of the upcoming HBO docuseries “Celtics City.” “But the general idea is that we’re going to have a good period of staying in and then transitioning and trying to do the best thing for the Celtics. We think that might be the right way to do it.”
In their announcement that they were selling a majority stake in the franchise, Boston Basketball Partners LLC shared that they expected to sell a majority interest in late 2024 or early 2025 with the balance closing in 2028. Grousbeck would remain as the team’s governor until the second closing of the sale, Boston Basketball LLC wrote in its statement.
However, that plan was met with some skepticism at the time. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps compared the situation to when Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks in December 2023 as he said that he would still be in control of that team, which didn’t happen.
“If somebody pays a massive price to take control of the Celtics, they’re going to control the Celtics,” Bontemps said on “The Hoop Collective” podcast.
“It’s just hilarious,” ESPN’s Brian Windorst said of the proposal for Grousbeck to remain the controlling owner of the Celtics through 2028 on “The Hoop Collective.”
Of course, whether Grousbeck’s wish to remain a part of the organization for some time following the sale remains to be seen. The Grousbeck family’s belief is that there will be four or five bidders before they narrow the list of prospective buyers to two and choose the winning bid during the first quarter of 2025, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported in January. Additionally, the family expects the winning bid to have a valuation that exceeds $6 billion, Charania added in his report.
“There’s lots of interest,” Grousbeck told reporters when the Celtics were honored at the White House for their championship-winning season in November.
There haven’t been many reports on who could be the next owner of the team. Co-owner Steve Pagliuca has publicly expressed interest in being a part of the bidding process while Eagles owner Jeff Lurie was reported to be a potential bidder. However, Lurie dismissed that report ahead of the Eagles’ Super Bowl win earlier in February.
“I’m not really interested in acquiring another sports team,” Lurie said. “I think it’s connected because they were my childhood team. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for their whole culture. I sort of see it as like a kindred soul in the NBA.”
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