July 2, 2024

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The Celtics’ owners are looking to cash in on their recent NBA title by putting the team up for sale. … The NFL’s calendar takeover continues with a new version of Hard Knocks premiering tonight. … The NBA’s salary cap ends up being less than projected as local media revenue remains in flux. … And Front Office Sports Today explores how MLS is capitalizing on Copa América and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Celtics’ Sale Listing Sparks Transition Questions: Here’s What We Know [[link removed]]

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Talk about an ownership mic drop.

Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck and his partners have officially put the defending NBA champions up for sale [[link removed]], just two weeks after the team won [[link removed]] a league-leading 18th title. Grousbeck previously gave no indications such a move would be coming, saying at the team’s June 21 championship parade that “it feels like we’ve got more to do.”

But the massive turn in events—said by the owners to be for “estate and family planning considerations”— sets up several other major events yet to unfold:

The Celtics deal will almost certainly set an NBA record for a team sale. The Suns sold [[link removed]] in full last year at a $4 billion valuation to Mat Ishbia, while a minority interest in the Nets parent BSE Global recently changed hands [[link removed]] at a $6 billion valuation. The Celtics could certainly beat both figures. Estimated to be worth [[link removed]] $4.7 billion before this latest title, the Celtics hitting the market carries plenty of extra luster not only because of the recent championship, but also the historic allure of the team. It’s as if MLB’s Yankees, NBA’s Lakers, or the NFL’s Cowboys were being sold—something that hasn’t happened with those teams since 1973, ‘79, and ’89, respectively. The transition period could be tricky. Grousbeck and his partners intend to sell a majority interest in the club either later this year or in early 2025. But Grousbeck himself “expects” to remain as Celtics governor, acting as the team’s key figure and decision maker, until ’28. That elongated period recalls the multi-year transition for the Timberwolves that is now the subject [[link removed]] of both formal arbitration and considerable acrimony between that teams’ owners. Both the current Celtics ownership group and the next one are facing big luxury tax bills. Already facing a NBA luxury tax bill of about $40 million for this past season, future years will likely be similar as forward Jayson Tatum is finalizing [[link removed]] a supermax contract extension that would reportedly pay him $314 million over five years, helping to keep the Celtics well above the luxury tax threshold. Combined with teammate Jaylen Brown’s five-year, $304 million deal signed [[link removed]] last summer, setting a league record, the pair could be set to receive [[link removed]] $480 million between 2025 and ’29. There will be relatively few fully attached assets in this deal. The team’s home arena, TD Garden, is owned by Delaware North, the parent company of the NHL’s Bruins, while the Celtics have only a minority interest in its regional sports network, NBC Sports Boston. The Celtics’ elaborate nine-year-old practice facility, the Auerbach Center, is part of the larger, Boston Landing mixed-use development controlled by New Balance. It’s a big change for a very stable and successful group of Boston pro team owners. No major local men’s pro team has been sold since 2002, when Grousbeck and his partners purchased the Celtics for $360 million, and what is now Fenway Sports Group acquired the Red Sox. The NFL’s Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins have gone on to combine for 13 league titles this century. FSG has a major decision to make. The multisport ownership group that also includes the Premier League’s Liverpool, NHL’s Penguins, and golf’s Strategic Sports Group [[link removed]], among other holdings, could be a potential suitor, and FSG principal owner John Henry has an existing relationship with Grousbeck. But pursuing the Celtics would mean abandoning existing NBA aspirations [[link removed]], several years in development, tied to a potential expansion team in Las Vegas. And would current Lakers star and FSG partner LeBron James ultimately become a part-owner of the archival Celtics?

Though Grousbeck is now beginning to wind down his ownership of the team, he still has numerous equity interests elsewhere in sports, primarily through his investment firm, Causeway Media Partners. That company has invested in companies such as ticketing operator SeatGeek, streaming outlet FloSports, and internet radio provider TuneIn, among many others.

NFL’s Calendar Takeover Continues With Expanded ‘Hard Knocks’ Series [[link removed]]

Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

NFL teams don’t report to training camps for several more weeks, but Hard Knocks will make its 2024 season debut Tuesday night. The long-running docuseries mostly associated with the preseason is getting started early this summer, as the HBO and NFL Films franchise looks to fight off viewer fatigue and some resistance from within league circles by kicking off its most ambitious year yet.

After adding a spinoff version of the show during the season in 2021, Hard Knocks is expanding yet again with an offseason edition that will run for the next five weeks before the traditional training camp show begins. Here’s what Hard Knocks will look like for the entire ’24 NFL season:

Offseason: Giants, July 2–30 (five episodes) Training Camp: Bears, Aug. 6 to Sept. 3 (five episodes) In Season: AFC North, Dec. 3 into postseason (seven episodes minimum)

Not only will Hard Knocks air more episodes than it ever has in one season (at least 17), it will also feature the most teams (six). Last year, the Dolphins’ wild card playoff game against the Chiefs gave the series its first episode involving a playoff matchup. More postseason Hard Knocks is guaranteed this year with the AFC North winner, and potentially more teams should the division earn any playoff berths.

The addition of an offseason version of Hard Knocks adds to the NFL’s continued takeover [[link removed]] of the sports calendar, following moves to boost up tentpole moments like the combine, draft, and schedule release.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Last summer, HBO said the traditional training camp version of Hard Knocks saw its best viewership in 13 years as it averaged 4.4 million viewers per episode following the Jets. That’s factoring in live viewing and streaming on Max after the original episode run. But those audience numbers mark a huge boost from the show’s low point in 2020.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no preseason games—a key portion of each training camp episode—and Hard Knocks averaged [[link removed]] just 243,000 viewers each week. Even before that, the once-innovative nature of Hard Knocks was no longer quite as relevant due to increased content offerings put out by teams themselves.

Now, as the NFL continues to evolve Hard Knocks, team owners approved [[link removed]] changes this past spring around who could be required to participate in the series if there were no volunteers. The Bears had famously resisted [[link removed]] doing the show in years past, before agreeing to be this summer’s team. Moving forward, franchises can no longer turn down Hard Knocks if they made the playoffs in the prior two seasons. However, teams with first-year head coaches remain immune, if they choose to be.

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FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY How MLS Is Riding the Copa Wave

David Rainey-USA TODAY Sports

MLS is anticipating major growth from a three-year sequence with major international tournaments in the U.S., starting with this year’s Copa América and culminating in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. MLS executive vice president Camilo Durana joins the show to discuss the league’s long-term plans beyond the World Cup and Lionel Messi’s career.

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ONE BIG FIG Cap Crunch

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

$140.6 million

The NBA salary cap for the 2024–25 season. That number is roughly $400,000 lower than what was widely projected: $141 million. The cap comes from projected basketball-related income during the upcoming season. Many NBA teams have been impacted by the disruption hitting regional sports networks. The Jazz created their own streaming service and the Suns began airing most of their games on free, over-the-air local TV. The new models almost certainly mean at least a short-term decrease in local media revenue.

Still, this year’s salary cap is a boost of 3.4% over the previous season, $136 million. This season will also be the final one under the NBA’s current national media rights deals. With $76 billion contracts reportedly set [[link removed]] to begin in ’25, the cap will likely go up 10% each season moving forward.

TIME CAPSULE July 2, 1966: The Legend of Billie Jean

Manny Rubio-USA TODAY Sports

On this day 58 years ago: Billie Jean King wins her first major singles title, triumphing at Wimbledon in a three-set win over Brazilian star Maria Bueno. King’s win was the first of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, and would be joined by 27 more in doubles and mixed doubles. The 1966 Wimbledon win was also the start of a historic era over the subsequent decade that included six years ending with her as the world’s No. 1 women’s player.

Much more than on-court dominance, however, King used that success as an influential platform to advance equal rights for women. The equal prize money at each major that is now a standard feature of those tournaments, and taken as something of a given, can be traced in many ways back to her fierce advocacy—including her threat to not defend her 1972 U.S. Open title unless prize money was equal for men and women. Her subsequent “Battles of the Sexes” in ’73 against Bobby Riggs represented yet another major spotlight on the power of women in sports.

For her decades of advocacy and influence, King has received many of the highest honors possible in both tennis and the U.S. overall, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the USTA National Tennis Center in New York that now bears her name. Her activities in the business of sports also include equity stakes in the PWHL [[link removed]], the Dodgers, the NWSL’s Angel City FC, and WNBA’s Sparks.

Speaking [[link removed]] recently on Front Office Sports Today, King detailed how she is still as active as ever in her push to elevate women’s sports.

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Conversation Starters Wonder what Oregon’s Autzen Stadium looks like in EA Sports College Football 25? Look here [[link removed]]. Andrew Brandt explains how the ruling in the NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit could alter the league’s revenue model. Listen here [[link removed]]. Nick Saban will reportedly receive [[link removed]] monthly paychecks of approximately $41,666 in his advisory role at Alabama. Editors’ Picks As NIL Turns Three, Collectives and Football Still Control the Industry [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Collectives dominate NIL, and football makes up most of collective budgets. Why ESPN Is Attempting to Enter the ‘Sports Tourism’ Business [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]The network is going direct-to-consumer in more ways than one. The NHL’s Salary Cap Boost Kicks Off a Chaotic Offseason [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Teams are seeing the largest increase since 2019, up $4.5 million. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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