Celtics Deal Changes the Game

Celtics sale means higher NFL team valuations; NBA will turn to expansion

March 21, 2025

Celtics Deal Likely Means NFL Team Valuations Headed Much Higher
SBJ’s Ben Fischer writes,SBJ’s Ben Fischer writes, “The NFL’s contractual right to exit its media rights deals in 2030 got even more valuable today with the sale of the Celtics for $6.1 billion, another data point for just how much runway the already robust NFL team valuations still have, experts said.

“The Celtics sale to Bill Chisholm’s group beat the NBA’s previous high of $4 billion (for the Suns in 2022) by more than $2 billion and comes just seven months after the NBA locked up a new media rights package more than doubling its primary source of revenue.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

With Celtics Sale, NBA Likely to Turn to Expansion
SBJ’s Tom Friend writes, “Front-running expansion cities such as Seattle, Las Vegas and Mexico City had hoped expansion would be fast-tracked following the league’s 11-year, $77B media rights deal, but there were two apparent roadblocks up until now. First, league owners were not enamored with splitting shares of the incoming media rights money with a pair of expansion franchises. Secondly, the league wanted to see the Celtics' sales figure before setting expansion prices.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Fanatics Hits $40M in Sales Off MLB Tokyo Series
Fanatics sold $40M worth of fan merchandise and trading cards off the MLB Tokyo Series. The company said it was its best-selling special event in company history. A special event for Fanatics is akin to an All-Star Game, NFL London, WrestleMania, the Winter Classic or the Kentucky Derby.

The key to the sales was the Murakami collection. The collection was sold out on the Fanatics App in less than an hour, while most products sold out within the first 15 minutes.
^{Sports Business Journal}

U.S. Billionaire Friedkin Emerges as Potential NHL Ownership Option in Houston
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan writes, “Friedkin is CEO of The Freidkin Group, which is based in Houston, and has begun his foray into professional sports ownership over the past several years. In 2020, the company bought the Italian Serie A club AS Roma. In 2024, TFG became majority owners of the English Premier League club Everton. Earlier this month, TFG helped secure £350 million in funding for a new stadium for Everton.

“According to reports, the TFG was also considering a bid for the Boston Celtics of the NBA, which sold on Thursday for a record $6.1 billion.”
^ESPN

Nike Expects Sales Will Plunge in Current Quarter as it Faces Tariffs, Sliding Consumer Confidence
“We believe that the fourth quarter will reflect the largest impact from our ... actions, and that the headwinds to revenue and gross margin will begin to moderate from there,” said finance chief Matt Friend. “We are also navigating through several external factors that create uncertainty in the current operating environment, including geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs, volatile foreign exchange rates and tax regulations, as well as the impact of this uncertainty and other macro factors on consumer confidence.”
^CNBC

Kirsty Coventry Wins Presidential Election, Becomes First Woman to Lead the IOC
For the first time in its 130-year history, the IOC will have a woman as its president.

The organization’s members elected Kirsty Coventry as its 10th president on Thursday, selecting the Zimbabwean sports minister and member of its executive board to succeed Thomas Bach.

Coventry, 41, becomes the first president to hail from Africa and its youngest since Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics and the IOC’s second president.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Cal Hires Former NFL Head Coach Ron Rivera to Be GM of Football Program
AP News’ Josh Dubow rites, “Ron Rivera spent more than three decades in the NFL and had opportunities to return to the sideline as an assistant when a more intriguing option came his way.

“Rather than mentor a first-time NFL coach, Rivera leaped at the chance to return to his alma mater to help revive the football program at California. Rivera was officially hired as the first general manager for the Cal football team on Thursday after the move was officially approved by the UC Regents.”
^{AP News}

LA Olympics Head Says 2028 Games Will Be a Catalyst for Rebuild. Count on Kendrick Lamar Too
“The rebirth, the rebuild, maybe reimagining LA 2.0 — and the Olympics as a catalyst for all those things — we think is really part of our ethos,” organizing committee chairman Casey Wasserman told The Associated Press.

“You can’t have a natural disaster at that scale in a city as big and as important as Los Angeles and not have it be part of your core philosophy going forward,” he said in an interview before giving sports leaders an update at the International Olympic Committee’s annual meeting.
^{AP News}

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McNeese State Manager Turned NIL Star Steals the Spotlight in Upset Win
FOS’ Amanda Christovich writes, “Twelfth-seeded McNeese State, which pulled off a thrilling 69–67 upset of No. 5 Clemson on Thursday afternoon, is this year’s first Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament. The team’s most viral star isn’t even a player, though. It’s student manager Amir ‘Aura’ Khan. 

“Khan first went viral in February for a video posted on social media of him rapping Lud Foe’s “In & Out” while leading players out of the tunnel for a game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, carrying a giant boombox around his shoulder. Since then, he’s become a sensation, leading his teammates onto the court while blasting the rap tunes.”
^{Front Office Sports}

The NCAA Has Diversified Its Revenue Beyond March Madness TV Deal
Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams writes, “The NCAA reported a record $1.38 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, and the vast majority of it came from one contract: its partnership with CBS and Turner to broadcast the men’s March Madness tournament.

“The men’s hoops championship has for years been the group’s most valuable financial asset … In recent years, however, amid sweeping changes, the NCAA has pushed to diversify its income streams.”
^Sportico

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