{"id":129799,"date":"2025-03-20T19:15:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T23:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129799"},"modified":"2025-03-21T01:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T05:02:15","slug":"steve-pagliuca-celtics-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/20\/steve-pagliuca-celtics-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Minority Owner ‘Saddened’ By Outcome of Team Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Celtics ownership sale<\/a> outcome was announced on Thursday morning, as Bill Chisholm of Symphony Technology Group bought the team for a record price. Initial reports said the deal was worth $6.1 billion, however, later reports indicated the Celtics sale<\/a> will be worth $7.3 billion. Wyc Grousbeck<\/a> announced he was selling the team in July. Current Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca was among the four finalists for the Celtics sale. After Pagliuca lost the bidding, he released a heartfelt statement<\/a>. Let’s dive into Pagliuca’s comments.<\/p>\n

Celtics Minority Owner ‘Saddened’ By Outcome of Team Sale<\/h2>\n

\u201cSince the Grousbeck family announced it would sell the Boston Celtics almost 9 months ago,\u201d Pagliuca said, \u201cI have worked tirelessly to put together a strong bid centered around the great majority of existing owners of the team, who understand and appreciate what it means to be a steward of the Boston Celtics, a team steeped in Championship tradition. Additionally, I recruited new partners with deep resources and expertise in technology and international markets to maximize the Celtics\u2019 successes to ensure we can always compete for Championships, luxury taxes be damned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pagliuca continued, \u201cWe made a fully guaranteed and financed offer at a record price, befitting the best sports fans in the world, and with all the capital coming from individuals who are fully committed to winning on and off the court. We had no debt or private equity money that would potentially hamstring our ability to compete in the future. We have felt it was the best offer for the Celtics. It is a bid of true fans, deeply connected to Boston\u2019s community, and we\u2019ve been saddened to find out that we have not been selected in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pagliuca has been a part of the Celtics ownership group since 2002. Along with other minority owners, Pagliuca had been considered a frontrunner to buy the team since the sale was announced. Considering how long he’s been around the team, Pagliuca’s transition toward full-time owner would have been natural. Pagliuca’s point about his bid being a record price is crucial. If Pagliuca is correct and his bid was rejected despite the same or larger price as Chisholm, it would be interesting to know why. Nevertheless, Pagliuca’s 20-plus-year tenure with the Celtics and his commitment to the team should earn the respect of Celtics fans.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

It’s unfortunate for Pagliuca that he missed out on the Celtics ownership sale, and many fans were rooting for him. However, all signs point to Chisholm being a good owner. Shortly after the deal was announced, Chisholm<\/a> confirmed his commitment to keeping the Celtics’ core intact and his passion for the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team is in a great place right now, and I’m very sensitive to that. Wyc, Brad (Stevens) and Joe (Mazzulla) have done amazing jobs… My approach is to win and raise banners. That’s in the near term and the long term… I bleed green. I love the Celtics. When this opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job. So why would you mess that up? I’ve had a couple of sitdowns with Brad and it’s been about aligning our goals, and extending the window of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

This mentality is ideal for the Celtics, as they have a championship-winning squad. Simultaneously, Boston’s cap situation is daunting, so having an owner who is committed to keeping the team together is key. As a Massachusetts native, Chisholm has a personal connection to the Celtics and knows what they mean to the city. While no owner is going to say anything negative right after buying the team, Chisholm’s comments and what we know about him bode well for Celtics fans. Current Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck will remain in control for the next three seasons. This gives Chisholm a chance to learn behind Grousbeck, which could benefit his abilities as an owner. Ultimately, the Celtics appear to be in great hands with Chisholm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Winslow Townson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boston Celtics ownership sale outcome was announced on Thursday morning, as Bill Chisholm of Symphony Technology Group bought the team for a record price. Initial reports said the deal was worth $6.1 billion, however, later reports indicated the Celtics sale will be worth $7.3 billion. Wyc Grousbeck announced he was selling the team in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4779,"featured_media":129802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,62],"tags":[50018,49332],"class_list":["post-129799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-nba","tag-bill-chisholm","tag-wyc-grousbeck"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4779"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129833,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129799\/revisions\/129833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}