
Wyc Grousbeck addresses possibility of new Celtics arena after franchise sale
Will the Celtics’ new ownership group attempt to move the team out of TD Garden?
Outgoing majority owner Wyc Grousbeck believes that’s a possibility. But he said any potential new arena likely would be a joint venture between the Celtics and Bruins.
The Celtics lease TD Garden from Delaware North, which owns the Bruins, and thus do not receive revenue from concerts and other events held at the venue. Their current lease runs through 2036.
“That’s probably not something I’m even going to get into today, but I will say this: We have a long-term partnership and friendship going back with the Jacobs now 22 years,” Grousbeck said Friday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “It’s been really quite something, and we’ve risen this team to close to the top of the league, like in the top three or four of the whole league, in terms of revenues, based on that lease and that building, because of our fans and because of our team.
“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with the Jacobs. Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs – we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously; there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations – but if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.”
Grousbeck’s opinion on the subject, however, won’t matter nearly as much as William Chisholm’s after the latter’s group agreed to purchase the Celtics for $6.1 billion. Grousbeck plans to continue in his role as Celtics CEO and governor through the 2027-28 season, but the C’s soon will be Chisholm’s team, assuming his purchase agreement is approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
Chisholm, a Georgetown, Mass., native and self-described “die-hard Celtics fan” who co-founded the private equity firm Symphony Technology Group, was asked about potentially seeking a new arena during an interview with NBC Sports Boston.
“I really haven’t put much thought into that,” Chisholm said Thursday. “I mean, there have been a lot of banners raised in that location that the Celtics are in right now. So that’s a pretty important part of the history. We’ll get to thinking about that. But it’s also a decision that’s down the road.”
Grousbeck, after pointing out that Celtics players and coaches spent most of their time at the team’s Auerbach Center practice facility, said there are no plans in place to leave TD Garden.
“That (practice facility) is like the best in the entire NBA. That place is second to none,” Grousbeck said on WEEI. “They’re five days a week there, and they’re, like, four hours at the Garden every couple of days. Anyway, people can talk about whatever they want to. The arena is not an issue in any way, and our relationship with the TD Garden is going to continue, and we’re all set. So that is the answer on that, and that’s, as they say, final answer.”