Celtics Sale Has Made Ballmer’s $2B Clippers Stunner a Bargain

Last week, Celtics ownership reached an agreement to sell the franchise to William Chisholm for $6.1 billion—a record sale price for a North American sports team.

The figure was eye-popping on its own and was about 50% more than the $4 billion Mat Ishbia paid for the Suns in 2023, which was the previous record price for an NBA team. But the number seemed even more inflated considering the purchase didn’t come with an arena. TD Garden, the Celtics’ home, is owned by the NHL’s Bruins. The Celtics have a lease until the end of the 2035–2036 season. 

The Celtics’ sky-high valuation can, in large part, be attributed to the scarcity factor—the fact that there is a clear, finite supply of sports franchises, Clippers president Gillian Zucker told Front Office Sports.

“The valuation of these teams is what someone will pay for them. There are so few of them, there’s only 30, they’re such a unique asset,” she said. “If you’ve had that much fortune in your life and you have the opportunity to own a team, I can’t imagine wanting to purchase anything else.”

If anyone knows what it’s like to be criticized for overpaying for an NBA franchise, it’s Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. The former Microsoft CEO purchased the Clippers in 2014 for $2 billion when the previous high for an NBA franchise sale was $550 million for the Bucks in 2012.

In 2014, the Clippers shared the Crypto.com Arena, then called the Staples Center, with the Lakers. And unlike the Celtics, the Clippers did not come with a rich history of winning.

But Ballmer invested heavily in the team, giving the team its own home in Los Angeles. He built a $2 billion arena—fully paid for through private funding—called the Intuit Dome, which opened this season. More than a decade later and the Clippers are valued at $5.5 billion by Forbes. 

“When Steve Ballmer bought the Clippers for $2 billion, people said he was out of his mind, that was crazy, there was no way [valuations] could continue to increase and look at them now, he looks like a genius,” Zucker told FOS.

It’s worth noting that Ballmer has a net worth of $117 billion, according to Forbes, making him the richest owner in all of pro sports. The New York Post reported last week that there is skepticism around Chisholm’s ability to fund the record sale.