‘He’d have to retire’ – Liverpool owners’ potential purchase of storied $6billion franchise complicated by explicit LeBron James rule
The Boston Celtics are going up for sale this week. The Grousbeck family has owned the Celtics since 2002, but announced their decision to sell the team in July shortly after the team won its record 18th NBA championship. Boston star Jayson Tatum won his first ring last season with the CelticsGetty Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos was reportedly interested in purchasing the Celtics, but only for about 36 hours as his rumored interest was shot down and categorically denied. For a while, all went quiet on the sale front, but this week it’s starting to ramp up as the first round of bids for the franchise must be submitted by Thursday, January 23. Per CBS News, the Celtics – one of the most storied franchises in all of American sports – are expected to receive at least four bids from investment groups vying to purchase the team. According to reports on Monday, John W. Henry and Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owners of Premier League club Liverpool, were expected to be in the mix. However, that rumor has been dismissed by other sources close to the sale, with Mass Live’s Chris Cotillo reporting that FSG will not be involved in the bidding for the Celtics. There are myriad reasons why this might be the case, LeBron James perhaps being one of them. Liverpool was sold to Henry’s Fenway Sports Group in 2010 for $478million (£300m). James, an NBA legend and reported billionaire with over $479m (£363m) in career earnings, jumped on board a year later with $6.5m (£4.9m) worth of investment for a two per cent ownership stake in the historic English Premier League club. In 2021, LeBron converted his stake in Liverpool to a one per cent share in FSG’s global empire, valued at $10billion (£7.5bn), following the club’s 2019 Champions League victory and Premier League title a year later. It made James and his long-standing business manager, Maverick Carter, co-owners in FSG’s Boston Red Sox (MLB) and Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL), deepen his ties with the Boston-based consortium. Liverpool principal owner John W. Henry is the co-founder of FSG, who will not be purchasing the CelticsGetty LeBron James has a long association with Liverpool and has ties with FSGtwitter.com/LFC However, the 40-year-old is still playing in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers, meaning any FSG involvement in the Celtics would create all sorts of conflict of interest issues. It’s also against the NBA’s rules. “He’d have to retire, or play for Boston to avoid conflict of interests,” one fan commented. “It would be impossible to own a team while also playing,” added a second. “This would make LeBron James a minority owner of the Boston Celtics,” joked a third. Fans are right — NBA players cannot own a team and play at the same time. James still plays for the Lakers, with the CBA prohibiting him from playing and being an ownerGetty This is because the NBA-NBPA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) explicitly prohibits player-owners. “No NBA player may acquire or hold a direct or indirect interest in the ownership of any NBA Team or in any company or entity, whether privately or publicly owned, that owns any interest in any NBA Team,” the CBA states. With that said, LeBron has made no secret of his desire to one day own an NBA franchise post playing days. However, rather than Boston, ‘The King’ has his eyes firmly fixed on Las Vegas, potentially forming an ownership group for one of the NBA’s expansion teams planned for the 2027-28 season. The four-time NBA MVP and the league’s all-time leading scorer has expressed his interest in bringing an NBA team to Vegas since 2022. “It’s the best fan base in the world,” James said after a Los Angeles Lakers preseason game in Vegas. “I would love to bring a team here at some point.” “I know [NBA Commissioner] Adam [Silver] is in Abu Dhabi right now, I believe,” James added, “But he probably sees every single interview and transcript that comes through from NBA players. So, I want the team here, Adam, thank you.” In February last year, Silver acknowledged that a Las Vegas-based team was a definite expansion possibility, fuelling speculation LeBron would be part of it. As for the Celtics, Wyc Grousbeck’s group is putting 51 percent of the team on the market having originally purchased the team in 2002 for $360m – at the time the highest price ever paid for an NBA team. Grousbeck reportedly hopes to remain as the franchise’s governor through 2028, which is when the complete sale would be finalized and the remaining 49 percent of the team would transfer to the new owners. Current team co-owner Steve Pagliuca and team investor Robert Hale have both expressed interest in buying the club, which could smash the record for the highest price ever paid for an NBA team. If the Celtics do sell at their Forbes valuation ($4.7bn) – an incredibly conservative fi
The Boston Celtics are going up for sale this week.
The Grousbeck family has owned the Celtics since 2002, but announced their decision to sell the team in July shortly after the team won its record 18th NBA championship.
Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos was reportedly interested in purchasing the Celtics, but only for about 36 hours as his rumored interest was shot down and categorically denied.
For a while, all went quiet on the sale front, but this week it’s starting to ramp up as the first round of bids for the franchise must be submitted by Thursday, January 23.
Per CBS News, the Celtics – one of the most storied franchises in all of American sports – are expected to receive at least four bids from investment groups vying to purchase the team.
According to reports on Monday, John W. Henry and Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owners of Premier League club Liverpool, were expected to be in the mix.
However, that rumor has been dismissed by other sources close to the sale, with Mass Live’s Chris Cotillo reporting that FSG will not be involved in the bidding for the Celtics.
There are myriad reasons why this might be the case, LeBron James perhaps being one of them.
Liverpool was sold to Henry’s Fenway Sports Group in 2010 for $478million (£300m).
James, an NBA legend and reported billionaire with over $479m (£363m) in career earnings, jumped on board a year later with $6.5m (£4.9m) worth of investment for a two per cent ownership stake in the historic English Premier League club.
In 2021, LeBron converted his stake in Liverpool to a one per cent share in FSG’s global empire, valued at $10billion (£7.5bn), following the club’s 2019 Champions League victory and Premier League title a year later.
It made James and his long-standing business manager, Maverick Carter, co-owners in FSG’s Boston Red Sox (MLB) and Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL), deepen his ties with the Boston-based consortium.
However, the 40-year-old is still playing in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers, meaning any FSG involvement in the Celtics would create all sorts of conflict of interest issues.
It’s also against the NBA’s rules.
“He’d have to retire, or play for Boston to avoid conflict of interests,” one fan commented.
“It would be impossible to own a team while also playing,” added a second.
“This would make LeBron James a minority owner of the Boston Celtics,” joked a third.
Fans are right — NBA players cannot own a team and play at the same time.
This is because the NBA-NBPA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) explicitly prohibits player-owners.
“No NBA player may acquire or hold a direct or indirect interest in the ownership of any NBA Team or in any company or entity, whether privately or publicly owned, that owns any interest in any NBA Team,” the CBA states.
With that said, LeBron has made no secret of his desire to one day own an NBA franchise post playing days.
However, rather than Boston, ‘The King’ has his eyes firmly fixed on Las Vegas, potentially forming an ownership group for one of the NBA’s expansion teams planned for the 2027-28 season.
The four-time NBA MVP and the league’s all-time leading scorer has expressed his interest in bringing an NBA team to Vegas since 2022.
“It’s the best fan base in the world,” James said after a Los Angeles Lakers preseason game in Vegas. “I would love to bring a team here at some point.”
“I know [NBA Commissioner] Adam [Silver] is in Abu Dhabi right now, I believe,” James added, “But he probably sees every single interview and transcript that comes through from NBA players. So, I want the team here, Adam, thank you.”
In February last year, Silver acknowledged that a Las Vegas-based team was a definite expansion possibility, fuelling speculation LeBron would be part of it.
As for the Celtics, Wyc Grousbeck’s group is putting 51 percent of the team on the market having originally purchased the team in 2002 for $360m – at the time the highest price ever paid for an NBA team.
Grousbeck reportedly hopes to remain as the franchise’s governor through 2028, which is when the complete sale would be finalized and the remaining 49 percent of the team would transfer to the new owners.
Current team co-owner Steve Pagliuca and team investor Robert Hale have both expressed interest in buying the club, which could smash the record for the highest price ever paid for an NBA team.
If the Celtics do sell at their Forbes valuation ($4.7bn) – an incredibly conservative figure – Grousbeck would have made 14x what he originally paid for them 22 years ago.
The current record for an NBA team is held by the Kevin Durant-led Phoenix Suns, who were sold to Mat Ishbia for $4bn in 2023.
However, the feeling is the Celtics, who are fourth-most valuable team in the NBA behind the Warriors ($7.7bn), Knicks ($6.6bn) and Lakers ($6.4bn), should fetch a premium given their strong brand identity, recent success, and the new NBA TV deal agreed over last summer which is worth $76bn over the next 11 years.
Boston could easily set the benchmark mark across all sports, currently held by NFL franchise the Washington Commanders, who sold for $6.05bn in 2023 to Josh Harris and a minority group including Magic Johnson.
A $6 billion sale of the Celtics, which the Grousbeck family are reportedly optimistic of getting, would see them valued around the same mark as football giants Real Madrid and Manchester United.
After the first round of bids are received, the Celtics will whittle that group down to two, which should wrap up sometime in February.
Then it’ll be on to the final bids, with a new owner expected to be announced within the next few months.
