Pro sports notebook: Deals in basketball and football
Courtesy / Maine Red Claws
Announcing the Boston Celtics' purchase of the Maine Red Claws on Tuesday were, from left, former Claws owner Bill Ryan Jr., Celtics President Rich Gotham, Celtics Director of Player Personnel Austin Ainge and Red Claws President Dajuan Eubanks.
The Maine Red Claws, a Portland minor-league basketball affiliate of the Boston Celtics for 10 years, are now also a subsidiary of the famed NBA team.
After saying in July that they would purchase the Claws, the Celts announced the completion of the deal at a Tuesday news conference in Portland. Terms were not disclosed.
The Red Claws debuted in the 2009-2010 development league season as an affiliate of both the Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Charlotte Hornets). The Portland team was launched with a $2 million investment by a 15-member ownership group that included Jon Jennings, a former Celtics scout and assistant coach who is now Portland city manager.
In 2012, the Red Claws and Celtics formed an exclusive affiliation, in which Boston guided basketball operations while the Maine owners ran the business. That’s the approach other development teams have followed as the league has grown.
Launched in 2001 as the National Basketball Development League with eight loosely affiliated franchises, the group comprised 27 teams last season, all of which were exclusive affiliates or subsidiaries of an NBA team.
(The league changed its name to the G League in 2017, when Gatorade became the title sponsor.)
On Tuesday, Celtics President Rich Gotham said, “The G League has become increasingly important to the NBA, and the Maine Red Claws have become increasingly important to the Celtics’ player development efforts."
Although the city of Worcester, Mass., has reportedly tried to woo the Red Claws from Maine, Gotham seemed content to keep the team where it is.
"We love the market up here. We love the fan avidity that exists in Maine," he said. "You might think it’s a hockey state if you didn’t know better, but you come up here, you find out pretty quickly that it’s actually a great basketball state. So we’re happy to be in Maine, in a vibrant city like Portland."
Bill Ryan Jr., chairman and former principal owner of the Red Claws, said, “From our perspective, it was really important to sell the team to somebody that had a community focus and a focus on Maine. And obviously we’ve been partners with Rich and the Celtics … so we know what they are, we know what they’re about and we know their dedication to the community.”
A football deal in the works
The news comes as another professional sports team considers a return to Portland.
The Maine Mammoths, an arena football squad that played in the 2018 season of the National Arena League but suspended operations this year, “expect to return to their home turf at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland” for the 2020 season, according to a news release.
The Mammoths’ owners, Rob Storm and Richard Maslia, said in February they were seeking to sell the team.
Last month, the National Arena League said it had identified a new ownership group for the team. On Wednesday, NAL Commissioner Chris Siegfried told Mainebiz the new owners had not yet completed the deal.
"When [the new ownership is] approved, the Mammoths will once again take the field in the NAL for the 2020 season and beyond," the league's release said.
The Mammoths finished the 2018 season with a 7-8 record, winning six of their last seven games.
Arena football is played indoors on a smaller field than the traditional gridiron — 50 yards long instead of 100 yards — resulting in faster paced, high-scoring games. The National Arena League was founded in 2016.
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