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Grousbeck Team "Got Game"
May, 2003 "I can't sleep when we lose, and I can't sleep when we win," Wycliffe Grousbeck, MBA '92, told a Business School audience in February when his Boston Celtics were competing for a place in the annual National Basketball Association playoffs. Grousbeck and his father, Business School consulting professor H. Irving Grousbeck, are two of four managing partners and 19 limited partners who bought the fabled Celtics for a record-setting $360 million on Dec. 31. Other investors include Business School alumni Mark Wan, MBA '92, and Stephen Luczo, MBA '84. The younger Grousbeck, who was a general partner at Highland Capital Partners, said his father had wanted to buy a sports team starting in the 1980s, but they waited for an opportunity with a chance to field a winning team and not lose their shirts. The Celtics earn above-average revenues year after year because the team has been good and the fans are fanatical, said Wycliffe, who lives in the Boston area. "There are only a few things to do in Boston in the winter: Shovel snow, go to a Celtics or Bruins game, or wait for the pitchers and catchers to report" to spring training. Even in a losing year, he said, the revenues should be sufficient to more than cover interest payments on a $180 million loan. Irv Grousbeck, who codirects the School's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, said he conservatively estimates that investors will earn 10 to 12 percent annually over the long term. While they don't want to lose money, most bought in because they want the lifestyle of going to the games, Wycliffe said. Irv added with a smile: "It didn't hurt that there aren't many 30 to 40 percent venture capital deals around these days."
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