Boston Celtics Sell for $6.1B, Break North American Team Sports Record

In what is the largest acquisition ever for a North American sports team, the Boston Celtics have been bought for $6.1 billion by a group led by Bill Chisholm, managing partner of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group. This surpasses the $6.05 billion price tag that Josh Harris and Co. paid to acquire the Washington Commanders in 2023. The deal is pending approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors, which will take a few months to close.

Travis Scott confirmed that JACKBOYS 2, the highly anticipated sequel to his 2019 project, is “on the way.” The announcement came with a video teaser and text relaying the message in a jittery pattern projected on a building. The first JACKBOYS album, featuring Sofaygo, Don Toliver, and Sheck Wes, was released in December 2019 and became the first Billboard No. 1 album of the 2020s.

The first game of Major League Baseball‘s Tokyo Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs earlier this week averaged over 25 million viewers in Japan alone, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country’s history. The mark surpasses the previous record of 18.7 million for Game 1 of the 2024 Seoul Series and quadruples the 2019 Tokyo Series average of 6 million in 2019. Additionally, Fanatics generated $40 million in fan gear and trading card sales from the series, making it the best-selling special event in the company’s history.

A new footwear campaign by Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped Thursday, and it features a star-studded lineup of Kevin Durant, Tom Brady, Travis Hunter, Suni Lee, and iShowSpeed. The minute-long ad is set to run across broadcast, digital, social, and streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, and YouTube.

The International Olympics Committee announced Thursday that Kirsty Coventry has been elected president of the governing body, making history as both the first woman and African to hold this post. At 41 years old, the Zimbabwean is also the youngest to occupy the role. Coventry will succeed Thomas Bach on June 24 when he steps down after 12 years at the helm. Coventry has won seven of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals to date.

Sabrina Ionescu recently embarked on her first tour across Asia with Nike, visiting the Philippines and China in hopes of inspiring the next generation of athletes and expanding her popularity with the global basketball community. Along the way, the New York Liberty star unveiled a newly designed Girls Got Game court, the first collaborative colorway on her Nike Sabrina 2 shoe, and even played in an exhibition game in Manila.

Sportradar has entered an agreement with Endeavor to acquire IMG Arena and its global sports betting rights portfolio. Expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, the $225 million deal will see Endeavor pay Sportradar $125 million and up to $100 million in “cash repayments” to certain IMG Arena partners.

Labeling it its biggest global campaign, Puma unveiled a spot on Thursday that celebrates the feeling one gets from running. The “Go Wild” initiative centers not on athletes or celebrities but instead celebrates the everyday runner. Richard Teyssier, Puma’s Global VP of Brand and Marketing, said this project “represents a new vision for sport and a new chapter for Puma, aligned with the expectations of a younger generation and rooted in Puma’s history.”

A sequel to the blockbuster film Coco is in production, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed during the annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. Set to hit theaters in 2029, original Coco director Lee Unkrich will return alongside Adrian Molina. The first iteration from Disney and Pixar was released in 2017 and made over $800 million worldwide while winning two Academy Awards. In addition to the sequel for the blockbuster hit, Iger confirmed upcoming plans for park expansion during the call, while shareholders also voted against a proposal to sever ties with an LGBTQ organization.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is entering a “first-of-its-kind” partnership with clothing retailer J.Crew to develop a new capsule of lifestyle outfits that includes cold-weather pieces in addition to pullovers, loungewear, and sweaters. The three-year agreement means J.Crew will have a presence across several of the federation’s top events, beginning with the Stifel Sun Valley Finals in Idaho on March 25.

Top image: Winslow Townson / Imagn Images