Celtics Sale Shows Media’s New Pot of Gold: Sports Teams as Mega-Brands
When the Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion last month — to William Chisholm, managing partner of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group, and a consortium that included global investment firm Sixth Street as well as Boston-based executives Robert Hale and Bruce A. Beal Jr. — it was a record for a U.S. sports franchise.
The investment underscores a powerful, undeniable trend: Major sports franchises are no longer just teams. They have evolved into fully realized media and entertainment brands.
In an era where live sports dominates audience engagement and revenue growth, investors see premier properties such as the Celtics as irreplaceable, hyper-differentiated assets with significant expansion potential in an evolving media landscape, as explored in the VIP+ special report “Sports Rights: Streamers vs. TV Networks.”
And unlike traditional media properties, which are increasingly fragmented, devalued or threatened by AI disruption, sports IP remains one of the few forms of content that is both resilient and expandable in a number of ways.
• The Rising Value of Sports Franchises: Storied clubs including the Celtics have long been prized for their rich history, loyal fan bases and regional significance. What’s different today is the realization that these brands hold rare, multichannel and even global monetization power. Other forms of entertainment face declining viewership and eroding margins, while sports continues to draw massive, real-time audiences — in person and across screens.
Live games command premium ticketing and hospitality demand. Media rights are robust, with leagues locking in long-term streaming and broadcast deals. Sponsorship and licensing have evolved into global enterprises that extend well beyond game days. Meanwhile, digital fan engagement — from e-commerce to social connections to team apps — is giving these clubs the “always on” ability to monetize fandom every day of the year.
• Franchises as Full-Fledged Media Companies: The Celtics sale reflects a red-hot transformation across the industry. Elite teams are becoming media companies in their own right, building veritable content ecosystems that turn out documentaries, podcasts and digital shows, all of which engage both fans and sponsors. Simultaneously, teams are building direct-to-fan media stacks through social, apps and subscription avenues.
Some teams, such as the Phoenix Suns, have even launched their own streaming platforms, in this case Suns Live. Critically, Suns Live helps the team reach a wider audience, including cord-cutters and younger fans who are moving away from cable and regional sports networks.
By owning its streaming platform, the Suns also created a valuable pathway to capture first-party data on fans, fueling the next generation of monetization opportunities. Platforms like Suns Live are more than communication channels — they are revenue drivers for subscriptions, advertising, branded content, fan commerce and more.
Underpinning moves like these is a growing sophistication in data strategy, with clubs leveraging first-party insights to deliver more personalized experiences, smarter marketing and tailored sponsorships. The business of fandom is increasingly data driven, and these moves generate real numbers.
• From Teams to Societal Icons: The Celtics, like a select few franchises, are well positioned to move beyond even the realm of sports to plant roots as a global culture brand, a transformation that is already underway across the NBA.
Streetwear collaborations with Nike, Adidas and even luxury designers have redefined team apparel as lifestyle must-haves, with players and teams alike showing up in hip-hop lyrics, gaming partnerships and celebrity tech deals. Culturally, the league has become a fixture at the likes of Fashion Week, the Grammys and major art and music festivals.
Even the pregame walk-up — now essentially its own social media sartorial showcase — is part of this broader shift. Teams and players no longer just win games, they have become fashion-forward tastemakers.
Only a handful of teams breathe in this rarefied air — think Yankees, Dodgers, Lakers, Warriors, Cowboys, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool FC and PSG. With this deal, the Celtics are announcing their aspirations to join that top-tier group.
• New Playing Fields for Brand Partnerships: This evolution creates expanded opportunities for marketers. Traditional sponsorships, such as Amica’s multiyear jersey patch deal with the Celtics signed last summer, are valuable but just the tip of the iceberg.
Brands can now collaborate with franchises across storytelling, content production and immersive fan experiences to kick off co-branded merch drops, AR/VR activations and interactive campaigns around both live games and digital destinations.
Increasingly, these campaigns are both hyperlocal and global. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a perfect case study, leveraging Shohei Ohtani’s mega-popularity to secure a wave of new Japan-based sponsors that expanded the team’s commercial footprint and brand influence, thus opening novel revenue streams from international markets.
• Sports as Media’s Growth Engine: As other sectors of entertainment look for stability, sports is increasingly seen as its thrust generator. Live games consistently command the largest audiences — and therefore the highest ad rates.
As demonstrated in VIP+’s special report, streaming platforms, from ESPN+ and Prime Video to Apple TV+ and even Netflix, are going all in on sports rights and sports-adjacent content to drive subscriptions and retention, as apparel, memorabilia and licensed products continue to scale up with expanding e-commerce channels.
Ticketing innovations and secondary markets are generating record-breaking revenues from in-person events. Add to that the meteoric rise of sports betting and fantasy leagues, and sports is the media category that can monetize essentially every aspect of the consumer ecosystem.
Private equity’s growing stake in sports signals more than financial confidence. It reflects a larger shift in where the power in media lies today. As teams digitize, globalize and now “media-ize,” they are busting out of both traditional roles and addressable markets.
The sale of the Boston Celtics is not just a headline-grabbing transaction, it is a beacon. And with it, sports has become the most dominant, defensible and dynamic force in entertainment.
And for investors? Capturing a stake in a powerhouse franchise such as the Boston Celtics is like catching the elusive leprechaun — because in this media climate, sports is the real pot of gold.
Christopher Vollmer is a partner at United Talent Agency and managing director at MediaLink who focuses on driving growth, transformation and value creation for media, entertainment, sports and tech companies as well as private equity-backed businesses.
Now dig into a related VIP+ subscriber report …
The investment underscores a powerful, undeniable trend: Major sports franchises are no longer just teams. They have evolved into fully realized media and entertainment brands.
In an era where live sports dominates audience engagement and revenue growth, investors see premier properties such as the Celtics as irreplaceable, hyper-differentiated assets with significant expansion potential in an evolving media landscape, as explored in the VIP+ special report “Sports Rights: Streamers vs. TV Networks.”
And unlike traditional media properties, which are increasingly fragmented, devalued or threatened by AI disruption, sports IP remains one of the few forms of content that is both resilient and expandable in a number of ways.
• The Rising Value of Sports Franchises: Storied clubs including the Celtics have long been prized for their rich history, loyal fan bases and regional significance. What’s different today is the realization that these brands hold rare, multichannel and even global monetization power. Other forms of entertainment face declining viewership and eroding margins, while sports continues to draw massive, real-time audiences — in person and across screens.
Live games command premium ticketing and hospitality demand. Media rights are robust, with leagues locking in long-term streaming and broadcast deals. Sponsorship and licensing have evolved into global enterprises that extend well beyond game days. Meanwhile, digital fan engagement — from e-commerce to social connections to team apps — is giving these clubs the “always on” ability to monetize fandom every day of the year.
• Franchises as Full-Fledged Media Companies: The Celtics sale reflects a red-hot transformation across the industry. Elite teams are becoming media companies in their own right, building veritable content ecosystems that turn out documentaries, podcasts and digital shows, all of which engage both fans and sponsors. Simultaneously, teams are building direct-to-fan media stacks through social, apps and subscription avenues.
Some teams, such as the Phoenix Suns, have even launched their own streaming platforms, in this case Suns Live. Critically, Suns Live helps the team reach a wider audience, including cord-cutters and younger fans who are moving away from cable and regional sports networks.
By owning its streaming platform, the Suns also created a valuable pathway to capture first-party data on fans, fueling the next generation of monetization opportunities. Platforms like Suns Live are more than communication channels — they are revenue drivers for subscriptions, advertising, branded content, fan commerce and more.
Underpinning moves like these is a growing sophistication in data strategy, with clubs leveraging first-party insights to deliver more personalized experiences, smarter marketing and tailored sponsorships. The business of fandom is increasingly data driven, and these moves generate real numbers.
• From Teams to Societal Icons: The Celtics, like a select few franchises, are well positioned to move beyond even the realm of sports to plant roots as a global culture brand, a transformation that is already underway across the NBA.
Streetwear collaborations with Nike, Adidas and even luxury designers have redefined team apparel as lifestyle must-haves, with players and teams alike showing up in hip-hop lyrics, gaming partnerships and celebrity tech deals. Culturally, the league has become a fixture at the likes of Fashion Week, the Grammys and major art and music festivals.
Even the pregame walk-up — now essentially its own social media sartorial showcase — is part of this broader shift. Teams and players no longer just win games, they have become fashion-forward tastemakers.
Only a handful of teams breathe in this rarefied air — think Yankees, Dodgers, Lakers, Warriors, Cowboys, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool FC and PSG. With this deal, the Celtics are announcing their aspirations to join that top-tier group.
• New Playing Fields for Brand Partnerships: This evolution creates expanded opportunities for marketers. Traditional sponsorships, such as Amica’s multiyear jersey patch deal with the Celtics signed last summer, are valuable but just the tip of the iceberg.
Brands can now collaborate with franchises across storytelling, content production and immersive fan experiences to kick off co-branded merch drops, AR/VR activations and interactive campaigns around both live games and digital destinations.
Increasingly, these campaigns are both hyperlocal and global. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a perfect case study, leveraging Shohei Ohtani’s mega-popularity to secure a wave of new Japan-based sponsors that expanded the team’s commercial footprint and brand influence, thus opening novel revenue streams from international markets.
• Sports as Media’s Growth Engine: As other sectors of entertainment look for stability, sports is increasingly seen as its thrust generator. Live games consistently command the largest audiences — and therefore the highest ad rates.
As demonstrated in VIP+’s special report, streaming platforms, from ESPN+ and Prime Video to Apple TV+ and even Netflix, are going all in on sports rights and sports-adjacent content to drive subscriptions and retention, as apparel, memorabilia and licensed products continue to scale up with expanding e-commerce channels.
Ticketing innovations and secondary markets are generating record-breaking revenues from in-person events. Add to that the meteoric rise of sports betting and fantasy leagues, and sports is the media category that can monetize essentially every aspect of the consumer ecosystem.
Private equity’s growing stake in sports signals more than financial confidence. It reflects a larger shift in where the power in media lies today. As teams digitize, globalize and now “media-ize,” they are busting out of both traditional roles and addressable markets.
The sale of the Boston Celtics is not just a headline-grabbing transaction, it is a beacon. And with it, sports has become the most dominant, defensible and dynamic force in entertainment.
And for investors? Capturing a stake in a powerhouse franchise such as the Boston Celtics is like catching the elusive leprechaun — because in this media climate, sports is the real pot of gold.
Christopher Vollmer is a partner at United Talent Agency and managing director at MediaLink who focuses on driving growth, transformation and value creation for media, entertainment, sports and tech companies as well as private equity-backed businesses.
Now dig into a related VIP+ subscriber report …