LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Boston Celtics could soon be sold for $6.1 billion, more money than has ever been paid for a North American sports team. The offer is led by William Chisholm, the founder of a private equity firm in California. He's a Boston area native but unknown to fans. And as NPR's Tovia Smith reports, that's leaving some a bit dubious.
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: The idea of a guy and his partners who can pay such an astronomical sum to own the 18-time championship-winning Celtics is great news for fans. Well, fingers crossed, it is.
DANIEL JUAREZ: Yeah. I'm going to hope. I'm going to pray that he's good for the team.
SMITH: Daniel Juarez (ph) calls himself cautiously optimistic. In Boston, not far from the Celtics practice facility, Richie Bradley (ph) was much more enthusiastic as he started learning about William Chisholm, who was raised in a small town north of Boston and went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
RICHIE BRADLEY: I love it. I'm a Dartmouth man, too. And so, right here, I'd like to say, hey, I could use some tickets (laughter).
SMITH: Chisholm calls himself a die-hard and lifelong Celtics fan who understands what the team means to Boston. But some fans are uneasy about a guy they see as an outsider beating out a bid from a group of current Celtics owners, including Steve Pagliuca - true fans, as Pagliuca put it, who know what it means to be a steward of such a legendary team. Indeed, Boston fans can be as tribal as they are passionate, and some, like Nicholas Gulis (ph) are wary.
NICHOLAS GULIS: You know, when big business gets involved, you know, the - a bit of the heart and soul gets ripped out. So - but I hope he cares about the Boston culture a bit. So that's why he's kind of, like, entering the lion's den here. You know, he's got to prove himself.
SMITH: Chisholm also still needs to prove himself to the NBA. The sale still needs the league's approval. Meantime, Pagliuca, who lost the bid to buy the team, is making it clear if anything goes sideways, his group is ready to, quote, "check back into the game" and continue to help the Celtics do what they do best - win.
Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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