Owner Of Boston Celtics Is Betting On The Intersection Of Sports, Technology And Media

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2019/02/21/owner-of-boston-celtics-is-betting-on-intersection-of-sports-technology-and-media/#51e4bcd31f57




Owner Of Boston Celtics Is Betting On The Intersection Of Sports, Technology And Media



Mike Ozanian
Forbes Staff
SportsMoney
Traffic cop at the intersection of money and sports




Wyc Grousbeck told me that when he bought the Boston Celtics in 2002, he thought he was purchasing a basketball team but in reality he was buying a media company. Grousbeck's timing and execution were terrific—his group paid $360 million for a team that is now worth at least $2.8 billion (excluding its 20% equity stake in a regional sports network).

Recently, Grousbeck, via Causeway Media Partners, has been investing in companies that he believes will profit at the growing intersection of sports, technology and media. He talks about his journey as owner of of the Celtics, the future of the NBA and Causeway Media's portfolio in the current episode of Forbes SportsMoney (see video below).

Play Video (MY NOTE: Video on link provided at top)
Boston Celtics Owner Wyc Grousbeck On The NBA And The Intersection Of Sports Rights, Technology And Media| 12:10


My mentors were James Walker Michaels, Geoffrey N. Smith and William Baldwin. I started out in the statistics department of Forbes in the mid-'80s then transitioned to writing. I mainly wrote about high-priced stocks that I believed were doomed. Example: my story on CUC International pointed out how the company's aggressive accounting was masking a cash-flow problem. CUC's stock subsequently crashed and the CEO was convicted of fraud. My CUC story is the focus of a chapter in the 2004 book: Forbes Greatest Investing Stories (John Wiley & Sons) by Richard Phalon. I even wrote an Earnings Quality newsletter for Forbes for a brief period (I think it peaked at about 150 subscribers). These days I like to take lots and lots of numbers and turn them into proprietary concepts and multi-platform content. Three of my longstanding publishing creations: the valuations of sports teams, ranking actors and movie studios on bang for the buck (ROI) and the Forbes Fab 40 (the most valuable sports brands). My most recent non-sports idea was Names You Need To Know, which broadened my concept of list creation to include direct input from our audience. My latest creation was the "SportsMoney Index," which ranks the most valuable athletes, brands, teams and sports agencies based on a combination of their individual values, and value of the top athletes, brands, teams and agencies they do business with. I also have a passion for economics (my MBA thesis at Long Island University was an empirical study on the cause of inflation in which regression analysis showed a significant correlation between the general level of prices and the money supply). Besides being an Assistant Managing Editor at Forbes I also have a gig as co-host and Managing Editor of the four-time New York Emmy award winning Forbes SportsMoney on the YES Network and Fox Sports 1 with my buddies at YES, co-host Bob Lorenz and producer David Alfreds, both of whom have taught me a tremendous amount. One of my favorite affairs is being a guest every few weeks on Larry Kudlow's radio show on WABC Saturday mornings. Larry has been a great mentor and friend. My brother in arms is Kurt Badenhausen, whom I have worked with for many years and knows more about sports numbers than anyone.



bob



.