There are “legitimate rumors” that Jeff Bezos is buying the Celtics

Celts

“For him, it would be no different than if you bought that famous gigantic $300 million yacht.”

As the Celtics continue to evaluate offers in search of a new ownership group, longtime basketball writer Bill Simmons believes one of the richest people in the world is interested in purchasing the legendary basketball franchise.

Simmons spoke in his podcast about The Wrestler Network, noted on Monday that Jeff Bezos – the founder, CEO and former president of e-commerce giant Amazon – was interested in opening his wallet and buying the Celtics.

“There have been rumors over the last few days, I think, that are legitimate that Jeff Bezos might buy the Celtics, and I think that’s real. I think he’s going to be one of the suitors,” Simmons said on his podcast on Monday. “That got me thinking: What does Jeff Bezos see when he looks at the Celtics? What does he want?

“And I think that only makes sense because it’s one of the crown jewel franchises. That’s why you get it. For him, it would be no different than buying that famous, gigantic $300 million yacht, but I think it’s real that he’s potentially in it.”

Bezos undoubtedly has the capital to buy the Celtics. Forbes currently ranks him as the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $196.7 billion. This wouldn’t be the first time Bezos has made a bid for a sports franchise. Last year, he was linked to the sale of the Washington Commanders before being outbid by eventual owner Josh Harris and his ownership group.

Simmons said having a deep-pocketed owner like Bezos join the league would be a welcome result – because a potential $6 billion selling point for the Celtics could set the market as the league considers expansion in the coming years.

“It’s a crazy price, but they’ll probably get it,” Simmons said. “They want the $6 billion because they want expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas — and Mexico City is being considered as a third team — but they want $6 billion for each of the two franchises for expansion, which would mean a $400 million check for every NBA owner, all 30 of them.”

“The Grousbeck family, the father (Irv Grousbeck), is pushing for the sale. He’s 90, he’s a legend. He’s going to ask for 25 times what he paid for the team. He just wants the highest price. … He wants the highest price he can possibly get.”

On July 1, Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck announced that Boston Basketball Partners LLC – the team’s ownership group – planned to sell its shares in the franchise, just weeks after Boston won its record-breaking 18th championship.

In an interview with CNBC a week later, Grousbeck confirmed that the ownership group plans to complete the sale in two parts – reiterating the team’s statement about Grousbeck’s plans to remain as the team’s governor through 2028.

“The plan, the expectation is to sell the team in two parts, 51 percent of it pretty soon,” Grousbeck said. “49 percent and then a second close, that’s the expectation for 2028. I plan or expect to stay until 2028 and we’ll hire bankers and consultants and that’s going to be quite a bidding process.”

In addition to Bezos’ speculative participation in the ongoing bidding process, other potential buyers have emerged over the past month – minority owner Stephen Pagliuca has already expressed interest in buying the team.