After a long process, there appears to be more clarity on who could be the next owner of the Celtics.
According to multiple reports , there are four finalists in the bidding process for the team: current co-owner Steve Pagliuca, Philadelphia Phillies co-owner Stan Middleman, businessman William Chisholm and Texas-based The Friedkin Group.
Pagliuca, who is the second-largest stakeholder in the Celtics, is part of the group that purchased the team in 2002.
Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist believes that current lead owner Wyc Grousbeck would prefer Pagliuca to take the reins of ownership.
“Pagliuca has a good track record, obviously, with the Celtics and he has a good track record in industry,” Zimbalist said.
When the Celtics sale was announced last year, Pagliuca released a statement in which he said he hoped to be “part of the Celtics moving forward and will be a proud participant in the bidding process that has been announced today.”
But with a price tag expected to be north of $6 billion, it may ultimately come down to who can secure the most money. And Zimbalist points out that they will have to deal with challenges like the C’s high payroll.
“There are also the questions, of course, about what’s gonna happen to the economy in the coming two years? I’m not optimistic about that given recent economic policy decisions,” he said. “There’s the question of what’s gonna happen in the media market, television market, streaming market? Because that market is rapidly changing.”
Each of the reported candidates has their own attributes. Along with Pagliuca and Middleman, the Friedkin Group has experience in sports as the owner of soccer clubs AS Roma and Everton. And Chisholm, who graduated from Dartmouth, co-founded Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm out of California.
