The Boston Celtics have been on sale since the second week of July. The ownership group led by entrepreneur Wyc Grousbeck decided to sell their majority stakes just two weeks after the franchise won its 18th championship. NBA media personality and Boston Celtics fan Bill Simmons believes that the league is seeking $6 billion through the team’s sale. On his eponymous podcast, Simmons said that this amount would fuel their ambitions to bring an expansion team to Seattle, Vegas, and Mexico City.
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The Celtics insider made it clear that majority owner Wyc Grousbeck would settle for the highest bidder, even if they have no ties to the Boston area. Therefore, Simmons thinks that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos could be a likely candidate to acquire the franchise. Apparently, he has reasons to believe that.
“In the last few days, there’s been some legitimate buzz about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics and I think it’s real. I think he’s gonna be one of the suitors,” the 54-year-old said.
Simmons then wondered what would drive the billionaire to buy the franchise. He came up with two potential reasons.
The Celtics’ storied history may lure Bezos in as they are the winningest NBA franchise with a dedicated fanbase. Buying the franchise would help him leave a significant imprint on the sports world.
“Jeff Bezos when he is looking at the Celtics, what is he seeing? What does he want? I think the only way it makes sense, granted that he has a kajillion dollars, but it’s one of the crown jeweled franchises, that’s why you get it. Like to him it would be no different than if he bought this famous, gigantic $300 million yacht.”
Apart from that, Simmons pointed out that the Celtics have leased their home arena TD Garden till the 2035-36 season. The Amazon CEO may be looking to build an innovative new multi-purpose arena under his company’s banner.
He pointed out the example of the LA Clippers’ breathtaking new home arena Intuit Dome, which was envisioned by the team’s billionaire owner, Steve Balmer. Would Bezos be looking to build a stadium that surpasses anything we have seen before?
“Is the play for him sort of Amazon Stadium? We’re already seeing with Ballmer… Is the ultimate play for this some sort of state-of-the-art stadium that’s never been done before for concerts and for basketball. It’s like the Amazon Dome and you put it in Downton Boston, and then that just becomes another thing he did,” Simmons added.
At any rate, Bill Simmons made a persuasive case as to why Jeff Bezos would buy majority stakes in the Celtics. But these are just speculations and it is unclear why one of the richest people in the world has his eyes on the franchise. If he does end up as the majority owner, it will draw further interest in the Celts.
