BOSTON -- The sale of the Celtics has Boston buzzing about whether the new owners might bring Larry Bird back to town to run things.

Celtics owner Paul Gaston announced Friday that he agreed to sell the team for $360 million to a group led by venture capitalists Stephen Pagliuca and Wyc Grousbeck, as well as Grousbeck's father, H. Irving Grousbeck, the founder of Continental Cablevision and now a Stanford Business School professor.

The new owners said they were interested in adding investors and would welcome Bird, who had been involved with a group trying to buy the team before moving on and trying to put a franchise in Charlotte, N.C.

Bird's return would be welcome news to Celtics fans who see the former Hall of Famer as the savior for a franchise struggling through the worst title drought in its history.

"Anything Larry Bird does, he's a winner,'' said Mark Liston, of Medford, who was in the stands at Boston College's football game against Central Michigan on Saturday. "He's exactly what you want in something like this. The Celtics are such a great tradition already, it would be a great complement.''

It's no secret that Bird has wanted to come back to Boston -- but only if the situation was right. That wasn't going to happen as long as the team was owned by Gaston, who reportedly rebuffed attempts by Bird and Boston businessman Steve Belkin to buy the team.

Belkin told The Boston Globe that his priority now is getting a team in Charlotte, but he wouldn't rule out investing in the Celtics instead. That would mean Bird would be back in the town where he won three NBA titles from 1979-92.

"I wouldn't do anything without Larry,'' Belkin told the paper.

Bird was unavailable for comment Friday night at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, where he introduced his friend and former rival, Magic Johnson.

In closing the books on the Gaston tenure, the Celtics end the least successful era in franchise history. It has been an unprecedented 16 years since the franchise's record 16th NBA title. Never before has the team gone a decade without winning it all.

Before this year's surprising run to the conference finals, the Celtics had missed the playoffs in six consecutive years -- as many times as they sat home in their previous 48 years combined.

"Larry Bird, over the years, has always sounded like he'd do anything to bring the Celtics back into the promised land,'' said another Boston College fan, Don Ricciato. "I would like to see (him return). That would be a positive impact on the Celtics.''

Wyc Grousbeck praised general manager Chris Wallace and coach Jim O'Brien, but neither partner at the news conference discussed possible personnel moves. Pagliuca also wouldn't single out Bird as a potential investor, saying only that he and Grousbeck each has a list of people to call.

"There's a whole host of investors that have been talked about,'' Pagliuca said.