Speculation that Jeff Bezos was in the game to buy the Boston Celtics lasted about as long as it takes to get fast shipping from Amazon.com. Like overnight.
The Buzz Around Bezos has disappeared, apparently, even if the idea That was right. The man has a net worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 billion, and part of the fun of being a multiple billionaire is buying mansions straight out of “The Queen of Versailles,” building spaceships and owning professional sports franchises.
If only because he could use the change in his pockets to pay the Celtics’ ever-increasing salaries, Bezos would have been well-received by Celtics fans. But with or without him, the Celtics are going to be sold. The last of the green confetti from the Celtics’ victory parade was still floating on Boylston Street when the “for sale” sign went up, and the speculation has been as wild as the afterparty ever since.
One day it will be John Henry, the majority owner of the Red Sox. Steve Pagliuca, who already owns a piece of the Celtic action, has made it clear that he is interested in acquiring the largest piece. And there was Bezos, until he was gone.
Jason McIntyre has a pretty good theory about why Bill Simmons reported on Jeff Bezos and the Boston Celtics… photo.twitter.com/P1PhMcLleV
— Terrible announcement (@awfulannouncing) August 19, 2024
What type of owner(s) would best serve Celtics fans? Here’s my pitch: Think localAnd before you give me a provincial red card, I mean local sensitivities, not necessarily local roots.
The point here is not to be so nitpicky as to expect the next Celtics owner(s) to be born and raised in West Roxbury, educated at Boston Latin, and claim to have been in the old Boston Garden the day Bobby Orr put the puck past Glenn Hall. But local sensitivities? They matter just as much.
To illustrate the point, let’s use the current ownership of the Red Sox. On the surface, principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner are Exhibits A and B for those who would argue that you don’t need local owners to run a successful major league sports franchise. Henry was born in Illinois, Werner is from New York City. They didn’t dance on the field on that epic final day of the 1967 season when the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox toppled the Minnesota Twins. But Henry and Werner did have the late Larry Lucchino as their president and CEO, and Lucchino, a native of Pittsburgh, had the intellect and soul to understand the Boston baseball experience.
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Perhaps it was because Lucchino came to Boston during an earlier pivotal chapter in his life to overcome his cancer diagnosis. Perhaps he brought his love of Pittsburgh’s beloved but long-gone Forbes Field to the still-breathing but needy Fenway Park. In short, whatever your feelings about the current state of affairs at the Red Sox, Lucchino laid down a blueprint that led to three World Series championships (during his tenure) and a sparkling, revitalized Fenway Park.
I believe Wyc Grousbeck and Pagliuca have brought those sensibilities to the Celtics. They are businessmen first, answerable to partners, sponsors and the NBA hierarchy, but they have always been visible during the good times (which is easy) and, more importantly, visible and accountable when things have not gone well (which is not easy at all).
Remember, these wealthy fanboys traveled to Washington, D.C. to kiss Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach’s ring when they bought the team. Grousbeck and Pagliuca have always have itsomething you should never assume when new ownership gets the keys to your team.
The reality is that the Celtics will be sold to the group that pushes the biggest wad of cash into the middle of the table. And it won’t make any difference whether those people call the North End Little Italy or Boston Common “Boston Commons.” What will matter is that the next owner includes someone with local sensibilities.
Yes, it is a plus if the owners are local And have local sensibilities. That was what Robert Kraft had on his resume when he bought the Patriots in 1994. He was zealous enough to apply his loss of the old Boston Braves baseball team in his youth to this mission to keep the Patriots from being uprooted and moved to St. Louis, but he had the business savvy to outshine James Orthwein by buying up Foxboro Stadium and the land around it, making Orthwein’s ownership untenable.
Local sensitivities. That’s the key. That’s what the late George Steinbrenner had when he bought the New York Yankees, even though his methods were often brutal and his judgment sometimes flawed. (Frank Costanza: “What did you trade Jay Buhner for!?”) But Steinbrenner was a big guy from Cleveland who brought a New York bravado to a fan base that for generations had expected nothing but the best.
Whatever happens to the Celtics, the consequences won’t be felt for several years. This is a team that just won its 18th NBA championship and is in position to secure banners 19 and 20. Who knows after that? The next owners will either take the credit or the fall. Given the history of the Celtics and all they’ve accomplished, and what they represent, the impending sale of the franchise looms as one of the biggest Boston sports news stories of the 21st century.
The Patriots struck gold with Kraft, the kid from 93 Fuller Street in Brookline. The Red Sox struck gold with Henry and Werner, but with a big assist from the kid from Pittsburgh who grew up cheering on the Buccos at Forbes Field.
The Celtics are on the verge of winning.
(Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
