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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, currently the world’s second richest man on Forbes’ list, is interested in buying the Boston Celtics, per The Ringer’s Bill Simmons.
“In the last few days there’s been some, I think, legitimate buzz about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics, and I think it’s real. I think he’s gonna be one of the suitors,” Simmons said August 19 on his podcast. “Which got me thinking, why would Jeff Bezos, when he’s looking at the Celtics, what is he seeing? What does he want?
“I think the only way it makes sense — I mean, granted, he has a gazillion dollars — but it’s one of the crown jewel franchises, right? That’s why you get it,” Simmons said. “To him, it’d be no different than if he bought this famous, gigantic $300 million yacht. But I think it’s real that he’s potentially in the mix for this.”
On July 1, the Celtics made a stunning announcement of their plan to sell the franchise just two weeks after winning their 18th championship, the most in the NBA.
Simmons said Irving Grousbeck, Wyc’s 90-year-old father, is “driving the sale” and plans to sell it to the highest bidder regardless of Boston ties.
Bezos’ Amazon is based in Seattle, one of the NBA’s targets as an expansion team.
Simmons added the NBA wants the Celtics to sell for $6 billion, which is their target fee for expansion teams.
“It’s a crazy price, but they’re probably gonna get it,” Simmons said. “They want the $6 billion because they want expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas — and Mexico City’s kind of looming as the third team — but they want to get $6 billion apiece for the two franchises for expansion, which would mean a check of $400 million to every NBA owner, all 30.”
Jeff Bezos’ Desire to Have Sports Empire
Bezos’ attempt to build a sports empire was unsuccessful on his first try when he lost the bidding for NFL’s Washington Commanders to Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris.
There were questions about whether Commanders former owner Daniel Snyder was willing to sell the NFL franchise to Bezos because he owns the Washington Post, which broke several stories on misconduct alleged by the league.
But the Financial Times reported in June, that Harris’ group, who bought the Commanders for a record $6.05 billion, “simply outbid” Bezos.
It was the highest price paid for a North American professional sports team.
“I don’t think Snyder would have not sold to them if Jeff came in with a bid of $7 billion,” a person involved in the process told the Financial Times.
NBA franchises’ value has skyrocketed over the past few years.
Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA‘s Mercury in 2022 for a record $4 billion. Miriam Adelson and her family bought majority stakes in the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 billion last year. The Brooklyn Nets and Liberty were valued at $6 billion when owner Joe Tsai sold a minority stake in June.
Jeff Bezos’ Competitors for Celtics
After losing in the NFL bidding, Bezos could come in and crush the bidding war for the Celtics.
The $6 billion price for one of the most storied franchises in the NBA is just a drop in the bucket for Bezos, whose estimated worth is $196.7 billion, according to Forbes, just behind Elon Musk ($248.6 billion).
His Amazon Prime just inked an 11-year, $20 billion deal to stream NBA and WNBA games, starting with the 2025–2026 season.
If Bezos indeed joins the bidding, he will be up against Fenway Sports Group, per the New York Post. FSG also owns the Boston Red Sox and has Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James as one of their partners.
Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca will also join the bidding to become the team’s majority owner, he revealed in a statement shared by Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.
Wyc Grousbeck told CNBC on July 8 that the plan is to sell the franchise “in two parts with 51 percent going fairly soon, 49 percent then closing in second closing” with an eye on 2028 exit as the team’s governor.
“This is going to be quite the bidding process,” Grousbeck told CNBC.
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