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A year after teasing a bid to purchase the Commanders, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may be eyeing another major pro sports franchise.
Sports podcaster Bill Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast Sunday that Bezos could be interested in buying the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.
“In the last few days, there’s been some, I think, legitimate buzz about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics. And I think it’s real,” Simmons, a longtime Celtics supporter, said.
Weeks after the Celtics won their league-record 18th championship, ESPN reported that owner Wyc Grousbeck and his partners put the team up for sale. Grousbeck, a Massachusetts native, and his partners bought the franchise for $360 million in 2002 and have become beloved in the city as the Celtics established themselves as a playoff fixture and won two titles.
But Simmons said that the ownership group is looking for the highest bidder—regardless of their ties to the city.
“He just wants the highest price. He’s not like, ‘Oh, these local guys, let’s get ‘em.’ He doesn’t care. He wants the biggest price he’ll possibly get,” Simmons said.
Bezos, the second-richest man in the world according to Forbes, could easily afford the franchise valued at $4.7 million, the fourth-highest among NBA teams. Simmons added that the NBA wants the Celtics to be sold for $6 billion in order to raise the prices of expansion fees. The price tag would be in the ballpark of the $6.05 billion the Commanders were sold for, which was the largest sale of any pro sports franchise.
As for why Bezos would want to buy the team, Simmons speculated that the Celtics’ legacy would be an enticing factor for the billionaire.
“It’s one of the crown jewel franchises, right? That’s why you get it,” Simmons said.
Unlike other high-valued franchises like the Warriors and Knicks, the Celtics ownership group does not own the TD Garden. The team’s lease is until 2036, after which Bezos could also parlay ownership into building an arena—like Clippers owner Steve Ballmer—to raise the team’s value and even sell or grant its naming rights to Amazon or another of his companies.
