While the sale of the state’s Women’s National Basketball Association team seems inevitable, a relocation out of Connecticut is not, according to published reports.
Both the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant report that there are competing bids for the Connecticut Sun, which since 2003 has been owned by the Mohegan Sun, a subsidiary of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, and plays at the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville.
The tribe paid $10 million in 2002 to relocate the Orlando Miracle from Florida, but after two decades has decided to explore selling the franchise.
The Globe first reported on Saturday that a group led by Steve Pagliuca, minority owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, had reached a deal to buy the Connecticut Sun and relocate the team to the 19,600-seat TD Garden, where the Celtics play.
The report said Pagliuca’s group bid a record $325 million for the Sun and would contribute another $100 million for a new practice facility in Boston.
The Connecticut Sun have sold out TD Garden for a single regular season game in each of the past two years, demonstrating a potential fan base in the Boston area. The team has said, however, that it plans to play its 206 season in Montville.
Sunday night, Pagliuca released an “important update” on his bid for the Sun, the Globe reported, stating that while it is supported by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy and Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee, “no transaction has been agreed yet. … Our offer is subject to obtaining the required league approvals, as is the case for all such transactions.”
Following the initial Globe report, the Hartford Courant reported that an investment group led by Marc Lasry, who grew up in West Hartford and is a former owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, is competing with the Boston offer in the hope of keeping the franchise in Connecticut by relocating it to PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
The Courant said the bid from Lasry’s group, which “includes prominent investors around the state” and “several Hartford-area corporations,” also tops $300 million and would include building a practice facility for the team.
The Mohegan Sun has not confirmed either bid. In a statement emailed Tuesday morning to Hartford Business Journal, Mohegan leadership said they continue to “run their process of looking at different avenues of investment opportunities” for the WNBA team.
“We are excited with the growth of the WNBA and women’s basketball and are committed to outcomes that are the best for the Connecticut Sun, the Mohegan Tribe, and the WNBA,” the statement continued.
“Any sales agreement with relocation of the team to a different market would need to be approved by the WNBA and would also be subject to non-disclosure terms” the statement added. “Therefore, we cannot comment on any specifics of who, if anyone, has submitted offers or seeks investment in the Connecticut Sun at this time.”
In a report published Monday that cited sources “familiar with the discussions,” the Courant said the PeoplesBank Arena, which is currently undergoing a $145 million renovation, could accommodate the WNBA’s summer schedule.
The Courant report also said discussions about where to locate a practice facility have included the area around “the western side of Constitution Plaza, a natural location because it would easily connect via Temple and Pratt streets to PeoplesBank Arena.”
In addition to a practice and training facility, such a development also could potentially include team offices and housing for some players, the Courant report states.
Relocating the team to Hartford is seen as a potential boost to the city, which has the Hartford Yard Goats minor league baseball franchise playing during the spring, summer and fall at Dunkin’ Park just north of PeoplesBank Arena, formerly known as the XL Center.
Lasry is CEO of Avenue Capital Group, a global investment fund based in New York. According to the Globe, the group’s sports fund plans to make an offer of more than $300 million to buy the Sun. “How far north of $300 million remains unknown,” the Globe said, adding that the number “at least approaches Pagliuca’s reported bid of $325 million.”
WNBA franchise values have soared over the past decade and even in the past few years. The league expanded this year for the first time since 2008, adding the San Francisco-based Golden State Valkyries, which paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023 and began playing in the league this year, posting a 14-14 record so far.
The WNBA awarded two other expansion franchises in 2024 to Toronto, which paid a $50 million fee, and Portland, Oregon, which paid a $75 million fee. Both teams will begin play in 2026.
The latest round of expansion teams, though, were awarded in June for $250 million per franchise to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. Those franchises will launch one at a time between 2028 and 2030. The six new franchises will expand the league to 18 teams.
If either bid for the Connecticut Sun is approved, a sale above $300 million would become the largest in the history of women’s professional sports.
Over its more than two decades in the state, the Connecticut Sun has been one of the WNBA’s most successful franchises. It was the first franchise in the league to turn a profit, and while it has never won a league title it played for the championship four times — in 2004, 2005, 2019 and 2022.
The team currently is struggling through its efforts to rebuild, posting a league worst 5-22 record so far in the 2025 season.
