Getty Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend, American actress Lauren Sanchez, attended the Vanity Fair Academy Awards party.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is currently the second-richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine’s list, is reportedly interested in buying the Boston Celtics, according to The Ringer’s Bill Simmons.
“There’s been rumors going around for the last few days about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics, which I believe is true, and I think he’ll be one of the suitors,” Simmons said on his podcast on Aug. 19. “And it got me thinking: When Jeff Bezos is looking at the Celtics, what is he looking at? What does he want?
“The only way that makes sense is, I mean, sure, he has a ton of money, but this is one of the premier franchises, right? So you get that,” Simmons said. “For him, it would be no different than buying this famous, giant, $300 million yacht. But I think it’s entirely possible that he’s involved in this.”
On July 1, just two weeks after winning their NBA-record 18th championship, the Celtics announced surprising plans to sell the franchise.
Statement from the Boston Celtics
Simmons said Wyke’s 90-year-old father, Irving Groesbeck, is “leading the sale” and will sell to the highest bidder, regardless of their Boston ties.
Bezos’ Amazon is based in Seattle, one of the NBA’s targets for an expansion team.
Simmons added that the NBA wants to sell the Celtics for $6 billion, which is the target price for the NBA’s expansion teams.
“It’s a crazy amount of money, but they’ll probably get it,” Simmons said. “The reason they want $6 billion is because they want expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas. Mexico City has been floated as a third team. But they’re willing to pay $6 billion each to two franchises for expansion. That means all 30 NBA owners will get a check for $400 million.”
Jeff Bezos’ desire to build a sports empire
Bezos’s attempt to build a sports empire failed in his first attempt when he lost out to Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris in a bid to buy the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
There had been doubt about whether the Commanders’ former owner, Daniel Snyder, would be willing to sell the NFL franchise to Bezos because he owns The Washington Post, the newspaper that broke several stories about the league’s alleged misconduct.
But the Financial Times reported in June that Harris’ group had “easily outbid” Bezos by buying Commanders for a record $6.05 billion.
This was the largest amount ever paid to a professional sports team in North America.
“I don’t think Snyder would have sold to them if Jeff had made a bid of $7 billion,” a person involved in the deal told the Financial Times.
The value of NBA franchises has skyrocketed in recent years.
Matt Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury for a record $4 billion in 2022. Miriam Adelson and her family bought a majority stake 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 his minority stake in June.
Jeff Bezos’ Celtics rivals
After losing the NFL bid, Bezos could step in and win the bidding war for the Celtics.
The $6 billion purchase price for one of the NBA’s oldest franchises is just a pittance for Bezos, whose estimated net worth of $196.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine, is second only to Elon Musk’s $248.6 billion.
Amazon Prime just signed an 11-year, $20 billion deal to stream NBA and WNBA games starting in the 2025-2026 season.
According to the New York Post, if Bezos does indeed make a bid, he would be competing with Fenway Sports Group, which also owns the Boston Red Sox and counts Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James as one of its partners.
Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca will also be joining in the bid to become a majority owner of the team, according to a statement shared by Boston Globe reporter Adam Himmelsbach.
Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca said in a statement that the team would “proudly participate in the bidding process.”
Wyck Grusbeck told CNBC on July 8 that he plans to sell the team “in two parts, selling 51% immediately and 49% in a second sale,” and that he plans to retire as team governor in 2028.
“This is going to be quite a bidding process,” Grusbeck told CNBC.
Boston @Celtics Governor and majority owner Wyck Grusbeck speaks exclusively to discuss the ownership group’s decision to sell the team. @NBA A record 18th World Championship:
Alder Almo is a basketball journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 15 years of experience in domestic and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is originally from the Philippines and is currently based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Learn more about Alder Almo