The NBA world is watching the Celtics sale
Every year Forbes puts out their list of most valuable sports franchises. This year the Celtics came in at #19 at a valuation of $6 billion which is up from their 43rd ranking from a year ago. (Reminder here that the current ownership group purchased the team for a whopping $360M. Not a bad ROI there.) While this list is always interesting, it is mostly a theoretical exercise because the value of anything is generally what someone is willing to pay for it.
However, with the Celtics pending sale of the team, this becomes a very relevant topic. Not just for the ownership group (and the prospective buyers) but for the NBA community at large.
ESPN reports that the league’s expansion could be waiting for the Celtics to set the market for NBA franchise values.
Currently the Boston Celtics are for sale, and there are indications they could produce the highest price ever for an NBA team, a record currently held by Mat Ishbia’s purchase of the Suns. That could even further reset the market, and that is a contributing factor in the NBA’s decision to go slower on expansion and wait for that sale to happen, league sources said.
So if Adam Silver has his way, the Celtics will set a new record for NBA purchase values, setting the market for the expansion franchises. Note also that every NBA ownership group gets a cut of the expansion fees.
If two teams joined the league at $4.5 billion each, the 30 current owners would receive $300 million each. Keep an eye on the sale of the Celtics, which is coming in the near future. That number could set a benchmark that the expansion teams need to reach or at least approach.
Notably, the owners would not have to share that money with the players. Only owners cash in on expansion fees. These are not considered basketball-related income, so players are not entitled to a cent according to the collective bargaining agreement.
To be fair, expansion does increase the number of jobs for NBA players, which helps.
The NBA has already negotiated their TV rights deal (11-year deal is worth a $76 billion, per the Associated Press). The next step is the Celtics sale. Then the league will likely move forward with expansion (most likely in Seattle and Las Vegas, but they’ll keep their options open for bidding purposes of course).
The NBA is riding a very profitable wave right now. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.