🔊 Who Will Buy The Celtics?

📰 TOP STORY
Boston Celtics Owner Is Selling Majority Stake In Storied Franchise

• The Boston Celtics Majority Ownership Group Plans To Sell The Franchise. Led by Wyc Grousbeck, the majority ownership group of the Boston Celtics announced on Monday that they intend to list the team for sale due to estate planning (and also maybe due to sports franchises reaching close to peak value?). The Celtics were purchased by this investment group in 2002 for $360M. Since then, the team has won two championships, has over 1,000 wins, and reached the NBA Finals four times. In recent years, NBA team valuations have skyrocketed. In December 2022, Mat Ishbia acquired the Phoenix Suns for around $4B. In February 2023, Marc Lasry sold his 25% ownership stake in the Milwaukee Bucks to Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Haslam Sports Group at a $3.5B valuation. In December 2023, Mark Cuban sold his majority share of the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families at a valuation of over $4B. Most recently, Joe and Clara Tsai sold a 15% stake at a $6B valuation for BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, and WNBA’s New York Liberty to the Koch Family. The Celtics are one of the iconic franchises in all of pro sports, with an NBA record 18 NBA titles -- trailing only the New York Yankees (27) and Montreal Canadiens (24) among all North American professional sports leagues (more here).

A few other things to note…

1) This will undoubtedly be the highest sale ever for an NBA team controlling stake. Sportico currently values the Boston Celtics at $5.1B but we could see this going higher to over $6B…

2) There will be many potential buyers interested. Suitors could include Arctos, Dyal Homecourt, the Jacobs family, who own the Boston Bruins, and TD Garden or even Fenway Sports Group, who are Boston-based and have yet to own an NBA franchise. However, Lebron James is a minority investor in Fenway which could complicate things because NBA-NBPA’s collective bargaining agreement explicitly prohibits player-owners.

3) The new Celtics ownership will pay $400M+ in 2025-2026 for the roster. Five returning Celtics players will make more than $28M next season, including the two highest-paid players in the NBA, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown, plus Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porziņģis. That equals almost $1B in guaranteed salaries to those five players over the next five seasons.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

💰 MONEY MOVES 
APEX Capital Acquires Minority Stake In Italian Soccer Club

• APEX Announces Investment In Serie A Club Venezia FC. APEX, a sports-focused investment firm, announced a strategic investment in Venezia FC by acquiring a minority stake in the club. Finalized before Venezia's recent promotion to Serie A, this investment aligns with APEX's broader growth and private equity strategy, showcasing their commitment to identifying and nurturing strong sports IP (more here).

• Bob Iger & Willow Bay Close In On Angel City Investment. Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay are nearing an agreement to invest $250M into NWSL club Angel City. The couple could replace Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as the team’s controlling shareholder, but it is unclear if Iger and Bay would also replace Ohanian in his current role, as the club’s representative on the NWSL board of governors. According to Semafor, the team is valued at more than $300M and a sale at that price would set a new benchmark for a women’s sports team (more here).

• Dizplai Acquires PickGuru. Dizplai, a leading media experience company, trusted by global sports rights holders, brands, betting companies, and broadcasters to transform passive audiences into engaged communities announced the 100% acquisition of PickGuru, the most customer-centric, free-to-play, gaming platform on the market (more here).

• Teamworks Acquires ZoneIn. Teamworks, the enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations globally, has announced the acquisition of ZoneIn, a performance nutrition and meal planning software designed for sports teams and performance centers (more here).

• Caesars Entertainment Acquires ZeroFlucs. Caesars Entertainment, one of the biggest global gaming and entertainment operators, has announced the acquisition of ZeroFlucs, an Australian sports betting and trading company. The move is set to enhance Caesars Digital’s trading abilities, with a fully in-sourced solution for same-game parlay pricing correlation. ZeroFlucs previously provided its software to Caesars Entertainment through a commercial arrangement (more here).

• Bluestone Equity Partners Invests In Qloo. Bluestone Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the sports, media & entertainment industry, announced a $20M growth investment in Qloo, the leading AI platform for consumer tastes and preferences. Qloo operates a sophisticated AI-powered intelligence engine, known as Taste AI, composed of highly accurate behavioral data detailing how consumers around the globe interact with more than half a billion lifestyle entities including brands, media, sports, live events, film, travel, dining, and more (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Euroleague & WSC Sports Are Teaming Up

• Euroleague Announces AI-Content Partnership With WSC Sports. Europe’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the BKT EuroCup, will make available fully licensed footage through the WSC Sports For Creators Program, collaborating directly with creators to increase the online brand presence and engagement, while helping to reach new audiences outside of the existing fan base (more here).

• New Zealand Rugby & Fanatics Sign Landmark Partnership. New Zealand Rugby and Fanatics have announced a landmark omnichannel retail and merchandising partnership this week. Global fans of the All Blacks, Black Ferns, and other Teams in Black will be able to purchase merchandise from all over the world (more here).

• LEAD Sports Partners With Danny Cortenraede & InStudio Ventures. The globally renowned sports and health tech investment firm announced Danny Cortenraede and InStudio Ventures, an investment group comprised of high-profile European athletes, as its newest General Partner. Cortenraede is a serial entrepreneur and investor based in Los Angeles, who brings a wealth of experience and a strong network in the sports, technology, and media industries to the firm (more here).

• Veritone Announces Multi-Year Agreement With Tennis Australia. The agreement enables Veritone to license archival match footage from the Australian Open to content buyers in North America. Veritone’s extensive customer base in advertising, documentary, editorial, arts, and entertainment can now curate, source, and license diverse tennis media through a single, streamlined platform (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Bronny James Carries On His Father’s Legacy In The NBA

• LeBron James, Ken Fisher & The Art Of Multigenerational Success. Bronny inherits more than just his father's athletic genes as he steps into the professional arena. He stands to benefit from LeBron's vast business experience and connections, potentially setting the stage for a new kind of family dynasty. This transition from individual success to family legacy echoes some of the most influential multigenerational stories in the business world, particularly in the realm of finance (more here).

• CNBC Launches CNBC Sport. The new vertical will harness the strength of CNBC’s reporting and its access to the most influential voices in business, focusing on the intersection between business and sports. The sports industry is increasingly seen as an investible asset and CNBC Sport will deliver the latest news and in-depth analysis to those looking to stay on top of emerging trends and get ahead of the game (more here).

• Gen Z Will Help Padel Become The Next Hot Sport. Pickleball is now valued as a $1.2B sport. But it took about a decade to boom, creating a new range of business opportunities spanning generations and athletic abilities. It has even been credited with changing the dating culture in the US, as young players abandon apps for on-court meet-ups and play (more here).

• Half Of Fans Believe AI Technology Will Improve Sporting Experience. AI promises to transform virtually every element of sport, from officiating, performance analytics, and recruitment through to marketing, fan engagement, and content creation, with the recent advent of generative AI technologies a particular source of excitement (more here).

• Sports Startup Shares The Pitch Deck That Helped Them Raise The First $7M. Social-commerce platform Millions is trying to change how athletes make money from their names, images, and likenesses, from the professional to the collegiate level. The startup closed about three years ago its first 10M Canadian dollars ($7M) in funding (more here).

• How Overtime Is Setting Its Growing E-Commerce Business Apart. Sports media brand Overtime has built an e-commerce business that the company said reached over eight figures in annual sales in 2023 by partnering with brands like BAPE, Snapchat, and Paramount to expand its reach (more here).