In a move that likely has Celtics legend Red Auerbach rolling over in his grave, one of the biggest sports stars in Los Angeles is now a partial owner of Boston’s oldest professional franchise.
According to The Boston Globe, LA Lakers star LeBron James purchased an undisclosed amount of shares of Fenway Sports Group, the parent company of the Boston Red Sox.
FSG, which also owns Liverpool Football Club and subsidiaries NESN, Roush Fenway Racing, Fenway Sports Management and The Globe itself, also added Maverick Carter, James’s longtime business partner and friend as a part-owner. Carter and James are the first Black partners in FSG’s history, according to The Globe.
And don’t expect this to be the last move coming from FSG.
“The ownership group is believed to have its sights on more franchises, looking to make acquisitions across nearly every major sports league, as well as betting, esports, and analytics companies,” according to Front Office Sports.
In addition to adding James and Carter, FSG also sold an 11% stake in the company to RedBird Capital Partners for an investment of $750 million. The investment values FSG at approximately $7.35 billion.
The RedBird Capital Partners addition as well as taking on James and Carter as partners still must be approved by Major League Baseball, but a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Front Office Sports the deal is close.
In addition to potentially being upsetting to Red Sox fans because of James being a Laker, the deal is made even more troublesome by the fact that the four-time NBA champion is a fan of the hated (in Boston at least) New York Yankees.
“I’m a supporter of winners,” James told The New York Post in 2016. “As a kid growing up, I needed inspiration to get out of the situation I was in. I loved the Bulls, Cowboys and loved the Yankees. Those are winning franchises.”
A Laker, a Yankees fan and a hater of New England clam chowder (probably), James is shaping up to be one of the worst owners in the history of Boston sports. But he’ll still be better than Jeremy Jacobs.
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