Chisholm, a Dartmouth College graduate, grew up in Georgetown and is a longtime Celtics fan. Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck is expected to remain governor and continue to oversee team operations through the 2027-28 season.
The sale is the highest sum paid for a North American sports team in history, surpassing the $6.05 billion Josh Harris paid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
The Celtics ownership group has agreed to sell the team to William Chisholm, managing director and co-founder of Symphony Technology Group, for a record $6.1 billion, a league source told the Globe on Thursday. The sale is pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors.
The new ownership group also includes Boston business executives such as current Celtics co-owner Robert Hale; Bruce Beal Jr., president of Related Companies; and the global investment firm Sixth Street; according to industry sources. The sale was led by the Jordan Park Group.
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“Growing up on the North Shore and attending college in New England, I have been a die-hard Celtics fan my entire life,” Chisholm said in a news release announcing the agreement. “I understand how important the Celtics are to the city of Boston – the role the team plays in the community is different than any other city in the country. I also understand that there is a responsibility as a leader of the organization to the people of Boston, and I am up for this challenge.”
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Just weeks after the Celtics won their 18th NBA championship last June, the Grousbeck family announced that the team was going up for sale for estate and family-planning purposes. The family was the lead investor in the group that purchased the team for $360 million in 2002.
“Bill is a terrific person and a true Celtics fan, born and raised here in the Boston area,” Grousbeck said in the news release. “His love for the team and the city of Boston, along with his chemistry with the rest of the Celtics leadership, make him a natural choice to be the next Governor and controlling owner of the team.”
For months, Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca was the only person to publicly state his intentions of being part of the bidding process. But in recent weeks a group of finalists emerged that included Pagliuca, Chisholm, Philadelphia Phillies co-owner Stan Middleman, and The Friedkin Group.
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According to a person close to Chisholm, he is a lifelong Celtics fan with an “encyclopedic knowledge” of the team. Although Symphony Technology Group is based in California, Chisholm owns a home on Nantucket, and the source said that Chisholm was intending to buy a home in Boston if he was awarded the team.
Pagliuca did not immediately respond to phone calls or text messages Thursday but released a statement saying that he put together a group 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.”
He said he also recruited new partners with expertise in technology and international markets to ensure that the Celtics would have the resources to continue to compete for championships, “luxury taxes be damned.”
“We made a fully guaranteed and financed offer at a record price, befitting the best sports fans in the world,” Pagliuca said, adding that his group had no debt or private-equity money that could be prohibitive in the future.
“We have felt it was the best offer for the Celtics,” Pagliuca said. “It is a bid of true fans, deeply connected to Boston’s community, and we’ve been saddened to find out we have not been selected in the process.”
Nevertheless, Chisholm will soon take the reins of one of the most prestigious franchises in professional sports. In addition to being defending NBA champions, the Celtics remain the favorites to win another title this June.
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And their success has not come cheaply. Next season the Celtics’ combined salary and luxury tax bills are expected to exceed $500 million, an NBA record.
The Celtics players have mostly been isolated from the process. But All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, for one, is hoping the new ownership group is able to maintain organizational stability.
“I look forward to whoever it is,” Tatum said this week. “I trust [Grousbeck] and those guys in their decision. And understanding the culture that we’ve set and we have, and sustaining that and trying to make it better.
“We’ve got some great people in this organization and on this team and we’ve worked really hard to build something special. I trust that they’ll make the right decisions in whoever that next group is.”
Chisholm will have to grapple with record-breaking payroll and a huge luxury-tax bill while the franchise loses out on some revenue streams by not owning its home arena. (Delaware North, run by longtime Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, owns TD Garden.)
Tatum agreed to the largest contract in NBA history (five years, $315 million) last summer. Jaylen Brown is in the second year of a five-year deal worth $304 million, and Derrick White is locked in for four years and $126 million.
Tatum and Brown are set to make more than $50 million apiece in 2025-26, and the Celtics will likely owe more than $200 million in luxury tax. The Celtics’ payroll and tax payments that season are projected to be the highest in NBA history.
This story will be updated.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
Boston Celtics sold to William Chisholm for $6.1 billion: Source
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