Wyc Grousbeck doesn’t envision new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm building new arena
"Honestly, there's room for one arena in Boston, not two."
The dust has settled on the sale of the Celtics, with the Grousbeck family agreeing to sell the team to Bill Chisholm’s group for $6.1 billion on Thursday. However, some questions surrounding the future of the franchise remain.
Arguably the biggest question is if Chisholm will seek to build a new arena for the Celtics. As the franchise currently leases the TD Garden from the Jacobs family and the Bruins, there’s been some speculation that whoever bought the Celtics could build a new area for the team to maximize revenue.
Departing Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck doesn’t see that scenario playing out, though, with Chisholm as the team’s owner.
“We have a long-term partnership and friendship going back with the Jacobs now 22 years,” Grousbeck told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “It’s been really quite something, and we’ve risen this team to close to the top of the league, like in the top three or four of the whole league, in terms of revenues, based on that lease and that building, because of our fans and because of our team.
“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with the Jacobs. Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs, we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously – there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations. But if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.”
As Grousbeck mentioned, TD Garden recently underwent a $100 million renovation that was funded by the Jacobs family. While those renovations took place, the Celtics agreed to extend their lease at TD Garden through the 2035-36 season, contractually tying them down to the arena for the foreseeable future.
Grousbeck will remain as the Celtics’ CEO and governor through the end of the 2027-28 season, but whether the team seeks to build a new arena will ultimately be Chisholm’s call. In an interview with NBC Sports Boston on Thursday, the new Celtics owner didn’t give any indication of what his long-term arena plans.
“No, I really haven’t put much thought into that,” Chisholm said when asked about potentially building a new arena for the Celtics. “I mean, there have been a lot of banners raised in that location that the Celtics are in right now. So that’s a pretty important part of the history. We’ll get to thinking about that. But it’s also a decision that’s down the road.”
Grousbeck, though, insisted in his WEEI interview that the Celtics will continue to call TD Garden home for a long time.
“People can talk about whatever they want to,” Grousbeck said. “The arena is not an issue in any way, and our relationship with the TD Garden is going to continue, and we’re all set. So, that is the answer on that, and that’s, as they say, final answer.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com