Eagles owner Jeff Lurie is reportedly in talks to purchase the Boston Celtics, according to a report from Bill Simmons of the Ringer.
Lurie grew up in the Boston-area and was a huge fan of all Boston teams as a child. He attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston before earning his master’s from Boston University.
This isn’t Lurie’s first attempt at purchasing a Boston team, two years before buying the Philadelphia Eagles, he attempted to buy the New England Patriots in 1995, before the franchise was eventually sold to Robert Kraft.
The Celtics have been owned since 2002 by Boston Basketball Partners, a large group of New England investors. The franchise is valued at $6 billion, according to Forbes.
Lurie sold an 8 percent share of the Eagles in December, a deal that revealed the Eagles franchise valued at $8.3 billion. That sale raised $664 million. Whether that transaction was related to his interest in the Celtics is unknown.
Last June, after the Celtics won their 18th NBA championship, Boston Basketball Partners announced they planned to sell the franchise. Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck said in November he plans to run the franchise through 2028 when the deal is finalized, according to ESPN.
It’d be interesting to see how Philadelphia sports fans would react to Eagles’ owner owning the 76ers’ biggest rival.
