BOSTON -- The storied Boston Celtics franchise on Tuesday passed into the hands of a group of longtime fans who pledged to bring a championship back to the city.

The agreement to buy the team for a league-record $360 million was announced on Sept. 27, and the NBA approved the deal late Monday. The Celtics announced the sale had been finalized Tuesday afternoon during Boston's 96-89 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The incoming owners take over from Paul Gaston, who succeeded his father, Donald, as owner in 1992.

The group of new owners is headed by venture capitalists Wyc Grousbeck and Stephen Pagliuca, both from the Boston area, and Grousbeck's father, H. Irving Grousbeck, founder of Continental Cablevision and now a Stanford Business School professor. On Dec. 12, the Abbey Group, a local real estate development firm, was added.

"I think the thing the whole group here likes about the team is this team plays really hard,'' Pagliuca said. "The coach has them just diving on balls. And that's what we're going to do as an ownership group. We're going to bond together and try to bring a championship back to Boston.''

But the new owners said it was too soon to start talking about their imprint on the team.

"Today is a day for celebration, not a day for basketball operations,'' Wyc Grousbeck said. "We're going to roll up our sleeves quickly, maybe even tomorrow. I've got the keys to the office.''

The price is the most paid for an NBA franchise, surpassing the previous high of $280 million paid for the Dallas Mavericks in 2000. The franchise fee for the new Charlotte team is expected to be $300 million.

Wyc Grousbeck and Pagliuca have attended several games since the agreement was announced in September. David Epstein, a principal in the Abbey Group, said all the managing partners are fans who would attend games regularly.

"I think they're very excited,'' Celtics forward Antoine Walker said. "I've seen them around. Hopefully, they'll make additions when we need additions. We've got to get a couple of bodies in here.''

The team is the second Boston sports franchise to change hands in the past 12 months. The Red Sox were bought by a group led by Florida financier John Henry in February for $700 million, including debt.

The new Celtics ownership also announced that shareholders of the team, many of them fans who bought a few shares of the public company that owned a minority share of the team, would receive $27 per share.

The payments are expected to be made before March 31, at which point Celtics shares would cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time since they were introduced in 1986.

Under the new ownership, the Celtics will be freed of the spending constraints imposed by Gaston, who was determined to avoid the NBA's luxury tax. The Celtics had just 11 players to practice early in the season because of an injury to Kedrick Brown, who wasn't immediately replaced because of the financial constraints.

The sale process began late last winter or early spring when the Grousbeck group asked investment bankers Bob Caporale and Randy Vataha, who are partners, to find a basketball, baseball or hockey team it could buy, not necessarily in Boston.

Caporale said he contacted Gaston in July but was told the team wasn't for sale. Eventually, Caporale was told to make an offer.

Forbes Magazine recently estimated the value of the Celtics franchise at $218 million, 13th in the NBA, and well behind the first-place Los Angeles Lakers at $403 million.