- 14 minutes ago
Do the Celtics need to own their arena to compete financially in this league? Owner of the Boston Celtics, Bill Chisholm, joins!
Chisholm: "We need to create the best fan and player experience we can"
Chisholm: "I needed to be convinced" Is it hard to separate the fan part/the owner part?
Chisholm on the Jaylen Brown blockbuster: "I definitely have a level of trust in Brad and his team... But as a fan, that was tough"
Chisholm: "We need to create the best fan and player experience we can"
Chisholm: "I needed to be convinced" Is it hard to separate the fan part/the owner part?
Chisholm on the Jaylen Brown blockbuster: "I definitely have a level of trust in Brad and his team... But as a fan, that was tough"
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SportsTranscript
00:00uh celtics have a long history of supporting this being a part of it with the red socks and and
00:05supporting dana farber and um i'm i'm sure uh you got the lay of the land when you got here
00:11and it's
00:11it's important for you that uh the the team continues that support yeah absolutely absolutely
00:18i i um i yeah i think i don't know you probably know i grew up uh the north shore
00:25and uh some
00:27early memories are going to red socks games in those those red boxes so uh i've uh put a few
00:33quarters in there over the years and uh and uh even in the celtics uh you know this gives me
00:39a
00:39chance to be even more involved and uh really really excited to do so and um you know i i
00:45i
00:46look at the connection between you know these sports teams in boston and philanthropy and i think um
00:51the red socks and the jimmy fund that that set the standard and you know really pioneered
00:56uh for all this all the teams in in boston and you know celtics with the shamrock foundation um
01:02kind of followed followed uh followed the red socks and the jimmy fund lead so it's it's real
01:06exciting to be on here with you with you guys appreciate it well there's the long legacy of
01:11celtics players getting active in the community and doing things that how does the how does the team
01:17instill that when it when it comes to these but maybe they don't have to maybe it's just natural with
01:21guys but um how does how do the celtics make that a big part of what these guys do yeah
01:28yeah um yeah
01:30i mean i think you kind of hit on it a little bit it's it's it's first it really starts
01:34with um
01:35you know uh picking the right guys um you know the when we look at players i mean the first
01:43question i
01:43ask is about the character of the players and so i think the folks we bring in um have that
01:49to begin with
01:50um because you know you can be a you can be it it's it kind of there's a bigger job
01:57than just you
01:58know putting the basketball in the hoop it's being a good teammate it's being a good member of the
02:01community and we'd certainly screen for that on the way in and then i think the other thing i'd say
02:06is you know to instill it you know it's a lot of leading by example and if you look at
02:10you know what
02:13you look at jason and jalen and and derek and those guys they're out in the community they're they're
02:18they're doing their part and i think that sets an example for the younger guys and you know it's a
02:24little subtle thing but you may or may not notice the first thing that you know the rookies come in
02:30um they don't do a press conference they go out and do a community event so um you see chris
02:35and dylan
02:35out there um you know a month ago or so uh that's really important and i think we you know
02:41we start with
02:41the right people and then we instill it with you know with that leadership uh with the older guys and
02:47yeah it's really it's it's an important part of the job um you brought up growing up on the north
02:54shore being a celtics fan uh you bought this team exactly a year ago tomorrow i believe uh
03:02has it been crazy has only has own has owning a franchise been what you expected it would be like
03:12yeah i mean it's uh it's been a it's been a crazy year uh for me and my family and
03:19um
03:21yeah it's it's it's a it's a good chance to to reflect and um and be grateful uh for for
03:26where
03:27we where we are it's i've it's been you know i've been literally living the dream you know a year
03:3318
03:3418 months ago i'm in my driveway doing pump up videos you know pre-game pump up videos in front
03:39of my
03:39our uh our old basketball hoop for my family and uh and here we are so it's been it's been
03:46a it's it's
03:47been um an amazing experience certainly exceeded expectations i'm just a lot of joy for our family
03:54and and friends and and uh that's been great you know i and so certainly exceeded expectations um but
04:02you know it's been it's been hard too um you know this summer was you know some some really
04:09really tough decisions and ones that you know kind of broke my my heart personally so um so that i
04:15you know i expected it to be hard i expected to be some hard decisions i guess i i didn't
04:19necessarily didn't necessarily think it would happen quite so quickly and with such magnitude but um
04:25but uh yeah and it's just a a crazy year and and so grateful grateful to have have had this
04:32year
04:32and looking forward to a lot more so when you talk about heartbreak brad comes to you and says hey
04:39here's what we're thinking with jaylen you talked in that press conference about uh sort of almost
04:44needing to be convinced or or you know is it hard to separate is it hard to separate the fan
04:49part of
04:50you from the owner part of you when it comes to making that decision yeah i mean that's that's a
04:57it's a really good question it's one that um you know i've i struggled with at the time um and
05:03like
05:04you said uh you know i i have so much we have i i truly believe we have the best
05:11you know front office
05:12in in the nba and i think it's a source of you know of advantage for us um every day
05:17and um and so i
05:20definitely have a have a level of trust and and brad and and his team um but man as a
05:26fan that was
05:26that was tough and i really you know i i really need to be convinced and you know to take
05:31you know
05:33to take the the fan passion out of it because i'm a super fan um was was tough um and
05:40to frankly you
05:42know not and to put aside the and and you know you have to kind of be i think you
05:47have to be a
05:48sociopath if you don't worry a little bit about what other people the other fans are going to think
05:52and and so to put all that to the side and and just you know do the job um and
05:58you know i i step
06:00back and realize you know you have a responsibility um you know to protect and advance the legacy of the
06:06celtics and you know we've got the best the best you know brains in basketball and this is something
06:11that they were they had conviction around and um and you know i needed to be convinced and that's
06:16my job but they did they did um they did convince me and you know we did it and we
06:21did it with
06:21conviction and um and i think you know we'll we'll see where it goes but we feel good about it
06:27but but you know of all that stuff it's tough i mean it's really tough on a personal level um
06:33i really
06:34really like jay jalen as a person as a you know the role he played in the community and obviously
06:40the role he played on the court you know will be sorely missed bill speaking of brad to buy a
06:46team
06:47with such great leadership like brad stevens like joe mazullo what's that working relationship been
06:51like this past year and where do you see the future with the three of you yeah i mean i
06:57should
06:57have mentioned joe is a as a source of you know real real you know advantage for us because he's
07:02he's
07:03tremendous um but uh you know i would say you know just first of all for me on boarding you
07:10know i i look around you know you see and i don't other teams and you know they have turnover
07:15and you
07:16know kind of you know replacing folks here and there i mean this was this was pretty seamless for
07:21me to come in and have you know a plus people you know throughout the organization and you know it's
07:27it's the boston celtics i mean we we should it should have that quality and and that you know kind
07:32of that excellence in the leadership and we certainly have it and that's made it that's
07:37made it you know much much easier onboarding for me and you know one of the things that uh you
07:43kind
07:43of realize is you you you know you realize you don't know as much as you think you do when
07:47you
07:47come in the door and thank goodness that these guys were here to help onboard me and um and you
07:54know
07:54i as i said in my original press conference this is it's really i i want to do this in
07:59a you know
08:00collaborative way i there's there's i'm looking to them to you know to make recommendations and
08:06you know i'll pressure test those but um but it's been it's been great and and um they're they're
08:12really great basketball minds and you know on top of that they're they're really good people and and um
08:17folks that i really really have enjoyed working with and i think they stand for what the celtics should
08:22stand for um is that you know that commitment to excellence and and doing it um you know with with
08:29real
08:29real real leadership and real you know real character so uh it's been been fantastic
08:35bill you talk about your passion and your love but understanding you're also an
08:40an owner as a fan a diehard fan i think the most important thing is seeing another
08:45banner get raised and put up in those those rafters but for us fans out here what in your mind
08:52what do you
08:53believe that you want to see with the celtics team and are you willing to do whatever it takes
08:57to you know put this team in a position where they can raise another banner with you as the owner
09:05yeah i mean that that's that's it um i i said before and i'll say it again i mean we're
09:11not playing for
09:12second um we're playing this is you know we're playing to win and to raise banners and um you know
09:19someone joked and called me uh was calling me at the beginning billy banners because i said that and
09:24you know that is i i want to earn that um i want to earn that and i haven't yet
09:30and um you know
09:33we have i think you know we have the the ingredients to do it and um certainly the commitment and
09:39you have
09:40you know the fans and the organization has a commitment for me we'll do whatever whatever it takes and
09:46um i'm desperate desperate to win and um yeah i mean it's uh it's and it's the boston celtics and
09:54and um
09:54and so we should and we will bill a lot of people a year ago thought the sale price was
10:01astronomical
10:02when you guys when you led the group that purchased this team well i don't think they're saying that
10:07anymore after the lakers sale what did you make that sale and and uh and what does that do for
10:13your
10:13valuation of the franchise yeah i mean it's it's pretty pretty nutty um and um you know i i don't
10:25i mean it's i just uh in this i want to i want to i want to say this but
10:31i don't want to sound you
10:32know um out of touch but like i don't really care um what what that that's that's the lakers this
10:39is the
10:40celtics um it's out of my control and frankly you know i'm not going anywhere so it doesn't really
10:46matter i mean if if you're selling the team if you're you know then then sure maybe that's that's
10:51a consideration but i'm in this for the long haul so yeah it's um it's nice for for the headlines
10:57and
10:58stuff but for you know the day-to-day around the boston celtics that doesn't really matter and i'm not
11:03focused on that and um but it is it's it's pretty nutty we love that answer um that's awesome is
11:12um
11:13it would be speaking of down the road it would be a long time down the road but do you
11:18need to have
11:19your own building to compete financially in this league um i i um no no um but i do think
11:31we we need um we need to have um an arena that kind of creates you know is is consistent
11:42with the
11:43you know the the quality of in the excellence of of the celtics and um you know we we need
11:52to have
11:53you know to create you know the the best fan and player experience we can and um do we need
12:00to own
12:01the building to do that no but we certainly need to have you know um you know the ability to
12:06to
12:07to influence that agenda i mean i there you know and if if we need to own the building to
12:12do it we'll
12:12do that um but um but i think the other thing is you know when you do that you got
12:18to make sure that
12:18you're you're not losing focus on what matters you're not in the business of you know running arena
12:24you're in the business of running a you know a world-class basketball team that you know is
12:30putting up banners that's that's the true north that's what we need to work towards and if owning
12:34the building is needs to be part of that then great but it's it's it's not a necessary thing
12:40and you know i think we've got we've got a really good partner um right now on that front so
12:47and we've
12:47got a really good location so um just making sure that you know that we're all aligned around that
12:53that objective which is you know create the best fan and player experience possible and and make
12:59sure we don't lose focus on what really matters which is putting up banners last one from me celtics
13:05knicks now the 76ers is this the best division is this the best division in basketball um yeah i mean
13:15that's that's a pretty pretty uh pretty impressive mix and you know i i they're just you know i think
13:21the entire league is is upgraded so i'm not sure you know how that really is going to stack up
13:28that's
13:28why you play the games and we'll see what happens but what i am sure of is it's a good
13:32thing um because
13:34uh we need that we need that competition we need that competition every night and we need to become
13:41you know playoff ready because we haven't gotten it done the last two years and you know i you know
13:47i just don't think you can you can you know kind of glide through the the regular season expect to
13:52turn a switch in the playoffs we need to you know get out there every night and get after it
13:56and we need to play you know play uh tough opponents and so you know bring it on
14:03bill it's been awesome uh having you on thank you for joining us i know how important this event is
14:09to the celtics to you and and the support for the dana farber and the jimmy fund is is awesome
14:16so
14:16we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today yeah you bet and thank you guys for all
14:23you're doing and um yeah appreciate appreciate having the chance to to catch up thank you
14:28thank you all right good luck all right uh okay thank you guys we gotta take a thanks bill we
14:33take a break but
14:34we
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