Does Wyc Grousbeck Have a ‘Master Plan’ to Buy Back The Celtics in The Future?

Does Wyc Grousbeck Have a ‘Master Plan’ to Buy Back The Celtics in The Future?

Yesterday was a bad day to be a Celtics fan. Bad day. Not good. Uh moving on, and of course we’ve known it’s coming, but moving on from the Gross Beck ownership, uh the V Gross Beck ownership is uh is not a good thing for Boston Celtics fans. Um model ownership, if you ask me, especially because the guy who owned the team basically didn’t care and let his son spend all the money and until he saw the bill and what was coming due, uh just let him do his thing. But having Bill Chisum officially take over and I find it interesting too that you know there was the whole well Wick’s going to stay on as as lead governor even though he’s not going to own the team basically wanting to uh keep up the facade of ownership which has been going on for 20 years here and then you find out the day before the sale goes down that no no the guy who just spent $6 billion on a team that does not own their own arena is not going to let somebody like Wick Gross stick around and go to league meetings and be lead governor and all that. So, shocker, by the way, that the guy who spent six billion wants to actually be the front-facing owner, too. Uh, for now, you feel strongly about that, Jimmy? Yeah, I feel like when I saw Ramona Shelburn’s tweet yesterday or the day before about how Wick owns slightly less than 15% of the team and we’ve been led to believe that Chisum has slightly more than 15% of the team. If Wick plays his cards right, in 2030 he could get to more percentage owned than Chisum. He could get to 16 17% of the team. I believe that Pags over the course of the ownership group with the Celtics bought from shareholders and went from say 10% of the team to like I think at the end it was 19 or 20% of the team. Are you suggesting that Wick Grossback could someday try to take control of the Celtics back? Yes, I hope so. I am rooting for the hostile takeover because that’s what that would be. I’m not a business guy, but that’s what that would be. But if you’ve been of the belief that Chisum is here to trim the fat of the organization, he’s the one who does it and then Wick gets enough equity to eventually get the team and the stakes back and then the Celtics are a much better business model that he can then reinvest in and get banner 19, banner 20, all that. See, I think you’re on to something, Jimmy. I don’t think this thing is entirely over. I’m fascinated fascinated by the uh the reporting that you know again Wick wanted to stay on as lead governor and now he’s not going to and his alternate governor and CEO. So he’s but he’s getting iced out. Do we know that it was not? Well, he keeps he keeps saying like the this Forsber interview that they did a few months ago like Wick’s welcoming him to the family. He’s known Chisum for a long time. So, could it be essentially a quote unquote my term, not real estate, anything like this, a short sale to somebody else, but a long-term I’m getting this thing back under my ownership in 2030, 2032, something like that? You should hope. That’s all I could possibly want as a Celtics fan cuz I’m telling you, Bill Chisum is bad news. Uh, and I want to go back to a comment that he made. I don’t know if you heard this, Dondaro. For some reason, I don’t think this cut got the attention that it deserved. On the night that Bill Chisum, it was announced that he was buying the This was March 20th of this year. Chris Forsberg asked him, and now we have some understanding. You know, Chris Forsberg essentially asked the question, are you going to pay for it? Right? Are you going to keep this team together? Um, and we now know the answer to that is no, because they traded Holiday, they traded Borzingis, they wanted to get under the Second Apron, they didn’t want to keep paying for it. I I’m telling you, when you hear this answer, you’re going to say, “Uhoh, Anna, I I don’t know if I I don’t know if this is good for us moving forward.” So, listen to this with the context and the understanding of what’s gone down in the last few months, but this is on the day that Chisum was it was announced he was buying the team. And Bill, I don’t I I don’t want to throw the hard questions out early, but it is the ones I’m hearing the most often from fans already out here. When you hear new ownership, you’re wondering how much you’re willing to spend. You’re paying a big price tag for this team. How committed are you to keeping the product we see currently on the court long term? Yeah, I mean this is again this is going back over time. This is stop. Please stop. Isn’t that a relatively easy answer? Can’t you find a way to dodge that one? He can’t even dodge it. Didn’t sound good. Well, you see the connection over Zoom was a little buggy there. That’s why there’s a delay. Sure. I’m sorry. Can we get it in full context, Jimmy? In the product we see currently on the court long term. Yeah, I mean this is again this is going back over time. This is the the the best, you know, the best franchise in any sport for me anywhere in the world. It’s just an incredible incredible um team and the legacy that that comes with that and frankly the responsibility too and the just that I I do feel um and yet the commitment to excellence that that the team’s had from you know way back in the the red hourback Bill Russell Koozie all that all the way to you know to Wick and what he’s done um and with his group um and with the team now with Brad and Joe it’s just Um, it’s incredible. And you know, I as as Wick said, I I want to raise banners. I want to raise them now and I want to raise them in the future as well. And I look at what Wick has done and and Brad has done and and Joe has done and the time is now. And we’ve also they’ve also set the team up for the future as well. So, uh, that’s part of the reason why, you know, I come in here and, uh, we come in here as a new investor group and, you know, we’re we’re partnering with Wick here because he’s done an amazing job. And if you know, you just why would you why would you change that at this point? So, the answer to the question, are you going to spend money is I love Bob Koozie. Like, that’s that’s kind of it. So, I’m telling you, watch out. I hope you’re right, Jimmy, to partner with Wick. I find that interesting because Irv wants to sell the team, right? V Irv wants to take care of the family. Wick still wants the Celtics, which awesome. Love it. Wants the courtside, wants everything about the Celtics. Great. So, but he doesn’t have enough money himself, enough investment bankers. So he finds somebody who has what is needed and then he long plays it and then he gets the percentage stake so he can go back to being the the actual managing partner and the governor and all that stuff instead of just representing the family stakes. Jim Jimmy I hope you’re right because the Gross Beck ownership was excellent and to me as much as you could possibly ask for as a sports fan. Uh they won two championships, but you almost never ever ever doubted their commitment, their willingness to spend money, to do everything. The model ownership and to have that come to an end yesterday, maybe for good, maybe not according to Jimmy, but at least in the I was just guessing like I just feel like that Ramona Shelborn piece about Wick has slightly less than 15% to be an actual governor and Chisum has a little bit more than 15%. Those percentages are very close and in four years, five years, I could see Wick making up that difference. I hope you’re right. It was it was a little alarming. Um I didn’t remember the exact cadence of that sound we just heard, but I didn’t like it. Um it reminded me of when Craig Brezlo was asked when he took over about spending money and we got that big gulp, the big Adams Apple gulp each time. Uh he was asked either about being aggressive or spending money and look at where we are. Um I didn’t love it. I’m not going to get on him though over the Drew Holiday and Chris Dash Porzingis moves that it was the end of the road for them. They had to go. It was over. So, that was a good basketball move. And the other thing, a lot of people, myself included, don’t really feel like they’re going to be in it to win it this coming year with the Tatum injury. Who’s behind that? Is it Brad Stevens? Is it Joe? Is it the owner Wick? I mean, I would be interested if Tatum is on the fast track like it appears and he’s backed by the NBA All-Star game, which is over 6 months away. Why would you not try to see what you can do in the playoffs? Doesn’t feel like they’re going to do that. I don’t know that, but that’s I don’t think Bill Chisum’s fault. So, I’m going to I’m not as as skeptical. I’m skeptical, but not as skeptical as you. And I Yeah, you’re right. It was great with the Gross Beexs when he was spending all that money. I loved it. state of ownership in this town because I think I think Wick sorry Irv I think Irv Geck the GECK family Irv Irv Geck was owns 30% of NBC Sports Boston by the way so be careful I think Irv Geck was the best owner in town love Irv love Wick Wick’s the man but that’s Mark Denderos’s friend uh Irv by the way you still in contact with him yeah we talk every so often talk about our golf games shoot him an email are you going to be uh courtside with Irv I’ve got an option to do that at Stanford for some I don’t think I’m going to be courtside with Bill Chisum. I’m going to put it to you that way, Jimmy, over my commentary on this on the last. Tell me how the Celtic ecosystem is, and I’ll tell you if I’ll be back there anytime soon.

On Thursday’s edition of Felger and Mazz, with Matt McCarthy and Mark Dondeo, the guys reacted to the Celtics ownership sale becoming official. While discussing the sale, Jimmy Stewart questioned whether or not Grousbeck has a long term plan to buy the team back, due to his stake in ownership actually increasing in the sale.
Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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