Fans in the Nutmeg State may find themselves without their lone professional sports team, if recent reports that the Connecticut Sun may be moved to Boston will come to fruition. However, the WNBA and team president Jennifer Rizzotti say it’s not a done deal yet.
“Contrary to some of the articles that were out yesterday, the team has not been sold,” Rizzotti said at a press conference on Sunday. “I can say that I have met personally with different investment groups over the last few months, and it’s been a thorough process. We’re not quite at the finish line yet.”
In May, the Mohegan Tribe hired investment bank Allen and Company to “explore all options to strategically invest in the team,” without ruling out a potential sale, according to WFSB Channel 3.
The commotion comes after the Boston Globe broke the news on Saturday that Boston-based investor Stephen Pagliuca had bid $325 million to purchase the team, a record-breaking price for a women’s sports franchise. Pagliuca is a former co-owner of the Boston Celtics, the city’s NBA team.
A statement by Pagliuca specifies his group’s objective is “[to] keep New England’s WNBA team in New England…enabling the Sun to play in larger capacity arenas” and to invest in the team’s growth, but notes that “no transaction has been agreed [to] yet.”
Another investment promise made by his Pags Group is an additional $100 million to build the team a dedicated practice facility in Boston. The Sun currently practice inside Mohegan Sun Arena or at the Mohegan Tribal Community Center, which is sometimes used as a shared space.
Boston, which claims five major league sports teams already, has gotten a taste of WNBA action thanks to Connecticut. The Sun hosted one “home” game each in 2024 and 2025 at TD Garden, the arena which hosts the NBA’s Boston Celtics and NHL’s Bruins. Both contests sold out the over 19,000 seat complex. Reports also suggest that Pagliuca would share the team with Providence, Rhode Island.
If the team were to move, the soonest they would be able to play in a new city would be the 2027 season.
“I can’t speak to where the team’s going to go, but if Boston was an option, it’s hard to argue that they’re not a city that’s viable for a WNBA franchise,” Rizzotti said. “But again, it’s not the Connecticut Sun’s decision on relocation.”
The Boston-based group does have competition – Connecticut billionaire Marc Lasry is also interested in purchasing the team. The bid by Lasry, who was a co-owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks from 2014 to 2023, also exceeds $300 million with a commitment to build a new team practice complex according to the Hartford Courant. The team would likely play their home games at Peoples Bank Arena in downtown Hartford, formerly known as the XL Center, which is undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation.
A move there would be a simple home venue change, not unlike the New York Liberty’s romp around the NYC metro area at comparable mileage – rather than a major franchise move.
The Courant also says that the Mohegan Tribe had a period of exclusivity to sell to Pags Group, which has since expired, so both offers remain on the table.
Connecticut governor Ned Lamont said he’s vying to keep the team here, most likely working with the Lasry camp – assuring that the state will chip in money to make it happen.
“We’re fighting like heck…I know we’ve got a very competitive bid, I know we have lots of local corporate support who want to make this happen,” Lamont told reporters on Monday. “Our state’s the home of women’s basketball…[The State of Connecticut] will do what it takes to keep the Sun in Connecticut.”
Any potential sale and relocation would have to be approved by the WNBA’s board of governors. In a statement, the league also said that Boston wasn’t in the running for an expansion team yet – the Globe’s source adding that the city may not receive a team until 2033.
“As part of our most recent expansion process…nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration. No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston,” the WNBA said.
The league recently awarded expansion teams to Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; and Philadelphia, PA following the 2024 announcements of a new team for Toronto, ON and a revival in Portland, OR. The league’s newest expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries based in San Francisco, CA, began play this season.
“The Celtics’ prospective owner Bill Chisholm has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time,” the WNBA also said.
“We believe our record-setting offer…will significantly benefit the league,” Pagliuca said, “[But] we will respect, cooperate with, and abide by all league rules and decisions on these matters.”
With the situation remaining open-ended, Connecticut-based fans have expressed their preference to have the team remain in the “Basketball Capital of the World.” Thousands of social media posts and calls to public officials have been made to keep the Sun in the state, WFSB reports.
“Basketball is in Connecticut’s blood and folks around here aren’t going to let the Sun go without a fight,” Hartford mayor Arunan Arulampalam said on Sunday. “We didn’t just get into women’s basketball when Caitlin Clark entered the league. We have had a dedicated women’s basketball fan base for decades, and have shaped the evolution of the game.”
The Sun are currently owned by Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, who also operate the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in the Uncasville neighborhood of Montville where the team play their home games. The franchise was founded in 1999 as the Orlando Miracle and floundered until 2003 when the tribe relocated them to Connecticut for $10 million, making them the first profitable WNBA team – and the first without an in-market NBA affiliate.
Women’s basketball has a rich history in Connecticut, due in part to the success of the University of Connecticut’s squad led by head coach Geno Auriemma. Early professional women’s basketball efforts included the New England Blizzard team, which split their time between Hartford and Springfield, adding UConn greats Rizzotti and Kara Wolters to their roster.
“The tribe thought that Connecticut would be a great place for the WNBA, and they were right, and they invested in this team in so many different ways before it was popular,” Rizzotti said. “I have experienced our fan base and the support that I’ve gotten as a player [at UConn], as a coach at the University of Hartford and now as a team executive. There’s no way you can ever get me to say anything bad about Connecticut, being here [and] having this be a big part of my career.”
Over the years, the Sun also added numerous former Huskies to their team including Rebecca Lobo, Nykesha Sales, and current teammates Tina Charles, Bria Hartley and Olivia Nelson-Ododa – in addition to partnering with UConn and the Big East Conference for numerous activities alongside commercial sponsorship.
The Sun have been one of the most successful teams in “The W,” selling out season ticket memberships this year, consistently making postseason appearances and getting to the championship stage four times, the most recent in 2022 – plus winning the Eastern Conference title in 2004 and 2005.
The WNBA has yet to render any decision on the potential sale or relocation of the Connecticut Sun. The league’s bylaws also provide them the right to veto bids or force the current ownership to sell to a competing offer, or even an in-state offer.
The Daily Campus will continue to report on this developing story.
For more information about the Connecticut Sun and the WNBA, visit sun.wnba.com. For the Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment corporation, visit mohegangaming.com.
The New York Liberty moved from NYC to Westchester and back to Brooklyn and there wasn’t any uproar from the league about that… not for nothing, Connecticut nurtured women’s basketball like no one else.
Remember how the State of Connecticut fumbled the Patriots deal? It would be unwise for Governor Lamont to have his name beside Former Governor Rowland in the history books.
Plus, how can our state be the Basketball Capital of the World without a team? The league shouldn’t be able to take the team out of Connecticut just based on that.
Keep the Sun in CONNECTICUT!
The fact of the matter is it is not *the* Basketball Capital of the World. It’s the *college* basketball Capital of the World and even then it’s not like UConn played out of country teams .
Look there’s a difference between the ownership of the team and moving it. The tribes are broke. They overbuilt huge places with long term bills in the billions (fox tower and the south korean disasters) so they will sell. Like it or not but the WNBA considers a move the same as expansion. The time for applying for it was January. Neither Hartford nor Boston did it so it is closed. Others in line get first dibs. These being Cleveland, Detroit and Philly.
Clevelands stadium holds as much as boston. The naming rights are for Dan Gilbert of Quicken loans.
Detroits stadium is the same. BTW guess where quicken loans is now…Detroit. Dan Gilbert again
Yeah so he holds the cards for both places that are next in line
Applying the league’s public comment about Boston to Hartford doesn’t quite work. Naturally they didn’t bid for an expansion team because the market is shared with Sun!
That reasoning makes sense for Boston, since it really is a separate market, but reporting that claims Hartford falls under “expansion rules” is unconfirmed and against precedent. The notion originated from an anonymous source.. most likely a fabrication, sadly, unless the league says otherwise.
I posited the conclusion would be unlikely since the New York Liberty has moved within their market and “expansion rules” weren’t in play. Their move to Barclays Center coincided with the team’s sale to the Tsai Group, not unlike the Sun’s case.
Now, if the league does take that position, it would be rather unfair to the team and fanbase that built up women’s basketball. UConn and the college game did have a lot to do with that, but why doesn’t it count?
Don’t get me wrong: I want more WNBA teams and further investment in the league – but to steal the Sun away, especially to Boston (which has slighted Connecticut in professional sports too many times) would be a bad move by “The W”.