Chisholm takes the reins in Boston

The Boston Celtics have a new owner, and there's one thing that isn't going to change at the NBA's most-decorated franchise.

"Coming in second is not the objective, and it's not acceptable," private equity mogul Bill Chisholm said Tuesday after taking control of the team from Wyc Grousbeck. "The ultimate yardstick is winning championships. Wyc's got two, and we're going to get more, and he and I together are going to help drive that."

Chisholm leads a group that bid $6.1 billion for the Celtics — a record price for an American professional sports franchise. The NBA unanimously approved the deal last week, and all that was left was for the money to change hands on Tuesday.

"We are committed to building on the legacy of the Celtics and raising banners," Chisholm said. "And I can't wait for the team to get back out there this fall."

A Massachusetts native, Chisholm said his earliest Celtics memories are of the Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and John Havlicek teams that won two NBA titles in the 1970s, but he really fell hard for the teams with Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale that added three more banners to the Boston Garden rafters in the '80s.

"I became a rabid fan during the Bird, McHale, Parish era. That was my team," Chisholm said in an interview with reporters shortly after the deal was finalized.

"How can you be a teenager in Massachusetts, or New England, with that group and not end up being a lifelong Celtics fan?"

The team was put on the market last summer, soon after Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown vanquished the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals. Chisholm won the bidding in March and leads a group that now has majority ownership control of the team, with full control coming by 2028 at a price that could bring the total value to $7.3 billion.

That's the highest price ever paid for a team in the four major North American sports, though a stake in the Los Angeles Lakers changed hands this summer for a price that would value the entire franchise at $10 billion.

Agencies via Xinhua