Celtics owner drops major hint about long-term future in TD Garden

Celtics’ majority owner Bill Chisholm had a lengthy appearance on WEEI’s Rich Hill Show, where he answered a bunch of questions about the team and other topics. But one interesting question that was raised by the host had to do with the team’s arena and whether or not it’s necessary for an NBA team to own its own arena to compete financially in the NBA.

Hill was referring to the fact that TD Garden is owned by Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of the Boston Bruins, and the Celtics are essentially tenants paying rent. If the Celtics owned their own building, that could become another huge source of revenue that could be reinvested in the team in various ways.

There have been rumors about this occurring for years, but there has never been anything tangible. Those discussions and speculations have picked back up again since the ownership of the team has changed hands from the Grousbeck family to Chisholm.

Chisholm sort of danced around the question, seeming to think long and hard before answering with a little bit of word salad, but he eventually said no. Instead, he insisted that what’s important is creating the best experience for the team and the fans and making sure the arena lives up to the standards of the Boston Celtics.

Bill Chisholm says if Celtics need to own their arena, they will

He said that they don’t necessarily need to own the building to be able to do that, but they do need to be able to “influence that agenda”, and then definitely stated:

“If we need to own the building to do it, we’ll do that.”

Chisholm elaborated and made it clear that the goal isn’t to get into the business of running an arena; it’s to run a “world-class basketball team that’s putting up banners”. He reiterated that if it becomes necessary to own the building in order to do that, then they will, but right now, he doesn’t seem to think that’s the case.

It’s important to note that the Celtics’ current lease at TD Garden runs through the end of the 2035-36 season, so even if Chisholm does deem it necessary to own an arena, it’s likely not happening anytime soon.

But it sounds like he’s at least open to the idea and considering the possibility. 2036 is a long way away, but that time is going to fly, and if the Celtics do want to build a new arena, they should probably start putting that plan into motion sooner rather than later. For now, it doesn’t sound like we need to worry about home games anywhere but TD Garden, but it’s still comforting to know that if that’s what it takes to win, ownership is willing to do it.

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