On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including some significant progress in the $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics.
The NBA team’s current owners announced in March that they had a deal in place to sell the club to a group led by private equity veteran Bill Chisholm. The deal wasn’t fully financed at the time, Sportico reported, but in the past few weeks the group has come together. Aditya Mittal, a member of one of India’s richest families, is contributing around $1 billion and is expected to eventually be alternate governor. Sixth Street is contributing between 10-15% as well.
It appears this group could be fully set in the coming weeks, and NBA owners could vote to approve it in June. The deal, and the price, could have an impact on the NBA’s looming expansion, and on valuations across the league.
They also talk about the latest investors in the WNBA‘s New York Liberty. The group, which includes Jack Ma and Karlie Kloss, bought in at a $450 million valuation, the highest price ever for a U.S. women’s team in a transaction. The money will be used to fund a new practice facility for the team, which is the defending WNBA champion.
Next they talk about Caitlin Clark‘s injury. The WNBA star will miss at least a handful of games coming up, causing resale ticket prices to crater. Then they compare that with road games the Lionel Messi has missed in MLS, and debate what (if anything) teams should be doing for fans in response.
They close by talking about Cristiano Ronaldo. The highest-paid athlete in the world hinted this weekend that his time with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr may be coming to an end. He was paid more than $550 million for less than three years with the club as the focal point of a new push to put the Saudi domestic league on the international map.
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