A longtime Boston Celtics owner with a minority stake in the team is angling to gain control of the storied franchise ? at a discount from the expected $6 billion asking price, The Post has learned.
Steve Pagliuca, who owns about 20% of the reigning NBA champs, has pressed minority shareholders who own roughly another 30% to fall in with him in bidding for the Celtics, sources close to the situation said.
If he can get firm commitments from the other investors, it would give him leverage over any deep-pocketed buyers who may jump in as the bidding process tips off, the sources said.
I'm conflicted. While I'd like the continuity of Pags, I sort of prefer the idea of somebody with "deep pockets". I don't want to see this team get broken up prematurely.
Agreed; if someone needs to pool investors together, they can?t afford this team and the annual salaries
Almost assuredly it will be a purchasing group of investors, not a single owner. That?s just how it goes these days.
Also, that Pags is trying to figure out a way to get the Celtics more cheaply does not mean that he is necessarily cheap, if that makes sense. It is a multi-billion dollar deal. He wants the Celtics, but also at the lowest possible price, which tends to be how most people buy expensive things. So if he can get 50% of the current shares to want to stick around, they can prevent a sale to a third-party (unless they are offered even more than the current asking price, which would probably peel some of them off).
I don't fault Pags for wanting to pay the lowest amount possible. I just worry that he's cash poor (in relative terms), and thus would be less likely to operate the team at a loss for a season or two.
Excuse the naive question but can the Grousebecks sell to Pags at a discount or are they obligated (legally) to sell to the highest bidder?
I believe they can sell their shares to whoever they'd like, subject to NBA approval.
I imagine there is a theoretical limit to a "discount" that the league would allow, however that hypothetical is unlikely to be realized, since if the value of the discount was great enough for the league to be concerned, it also would be great enough that the Grousbecks wouldn't be able to personally justify it, all else being equal.
Yeah, I would imagine that the league puts some pressure on teams to take the highest bid. The only example that springs to mind of the highest bidder being rejected was when Mark Cuban was denied the opportunity to buy the Cubs.
It gets interesting if there's only "one" bid though. Obviously the C's are a marquee franchise and reigning champs, so the league is very interested in them going for top dollar, but what if Pagliuca and Co. is the only offer? Will the league shoot it down and force the Grousbeck's to continue to hold and wait for a better deal? Could the league accept that a huge payroll/tax bill and no arena makes the C's less attractive than they first thought?
I think it's less of the payroll & tax and much more of the arena deal, but I think this is part of it. I also think that, in general, the value of the Celtics will never be higher in the short term, and the types of people who would want to invest in sports teams are generally looking to pay
under value, not at the apex.
Consider: one season off of winning a championship, keeping the same core, likely to make a repeat run to the Finals or a very deep playoff run at minimum... teams rarely come up for sale anyway, but usually teams that are contenders
never find themselves on the block, so it's a largely unprecedented situation.
Topic: Woj Bomb: Celtics Ownership looking to Sell (Read 81365 times)