The price to buy a professional sports team these days might seem unfathomable to the everyday person, and with a marquee franchise like the Boston Celtics up for sale, the price point is likely going to stop some in their tracks.
For someone like Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos, though, who is reportedly the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of nearly $200 billion, paying something like $6 billion for an NBA franchise is like someone with an average net worth buying a new midsized SUV.
The basketball world and New England sports fans are waiting for any sort of update on what could happen to the historic franchise that went up for sale following the Green's 18th NBA title. One of the team's biggest fans, Bill Simmons, provided an update on his most recent podcast.
"In the last few days, there's been some legitimate buzz about Jeff Bezos buying the Celtics, and I think it's real," Simmons said in a conversation with Chuck Klosterman on a recent episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast."
Simmons added: "I think he's going to be one of the suitors. Which got me thinking, why would Jeff Bezos when he's looking at the Celtics, what is he seeing? What does he want? … It's one of the crown jewel franchises, that's why you get it? … I think it's real that he's potentially in the mix for this."
According to Simmons, the NBA sees the Celtics sale as an important inflection point for the league. This transaction could set the standard for expansion fees as the league looks to grow soon.
The price the league wants to see is somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 billion.
"They don't own the arena, so it's a crazy price but they're probably going to get it," he said. "So there's that. They want the $6 billion because they want expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas, and Mexico City is kind of looming as a third team, but they want to get $6 billion a piece … which means a check for $400 million to every NBA owner, all 30. They're trying to establish the price with this Celtics."
There aren't many people on the planet who could afford that price, but Bezos could do so with relative ease. It's not like he hasn't toyed with the idea before, either. The Amazon boss was in the running for the Washington Commanders, too, before the NFL stalwart was sold to Josh Harris for $6.05 billion.
