Talk about an ownership mic drop. 

Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck and his partners have officially put the defending NBA champions up for sale, just two weeks after the team won 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 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 at a $6 billion valuation. The Celtics could certainly beat both figures. Estimated to be worth $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 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 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 last summer, setting a league record, the pair could be set to receive $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, 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, 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 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 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 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 changes this past spring around who could be required to participate in the series if there were no volunteers. The Bears had famously resisted 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.