{"id":193847,"date":"2025-09-02T10:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T10:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193847\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T10:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T10:17:10","slug":"will-the-sun-rise-again-sale-at-crossroads-with-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193847\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Sun rise again? Sale at crossroads with WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The plot is thickening in the saga<\/a> of the Connecticut Sun\u2019s potential future. With a record-breaking figure in the balance, news reports suggest the Sun\u2019s ownership group is looking at their options to recover a sale of the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sun owners, Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment<\/a>, who relocated the franchise from Orlando in 2003, intend to present multiple proposals to the WNBA as a means of \u201cseeking clarity on the league\u2019s desired path forward for the organization,\u201d a source told ESPN<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The confusion follows the league\u2019s apparent refusal to support a bid to move the team<\/a> to Boston led by former Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca. His PagsGroup bid $325 million, plus a $100 million commitment to build a new team practice facility in Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRelocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,\u201d the league said in a statement following the news of Pagliuca\u2019s bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Mohegan Sun Arena located in Montville, Conn. first opened in Oct. of 2001. Photo Credit: @connecticutsun on Instagram<\/p>\n

They also suggested that only cities previously involved in its expansion process could receive a new team. \u201cNine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and\u2026 currently have priority over Boston,\u201d their statement conveyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another source says the Mohegan Tribe accepted the PagsGroup deal \u2014\u00a0 but WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert reportedly never brought it to the league\u2019s board of governors. This allowed a period of exclusivity expire, Front Office Sports reports<\/a>. This also opened up the possibility for different offers, like a match<\/a> from former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, who is looking to keep the Sun here \u2013 with crucial support from the State of Connecticut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ESPN reports that the tribe will likely present the options of a full franchise sale to either Pagliuca\u2019s or Lasry\u2019s group to the league, in addition to selling minority stakes<\/a> in the team. Their source also said that the league themselves offered to purchase the team for just $250 million \u2013 equivalent to the\u00a0 newest expansion fee<\/a>, before Pagliuca\u2019s offer was made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other option, ESPN\u2019s source said, would be for the league to purchase the Sun, but they\u2019d have to exceed the going rate of $325 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tribe is frustrated and feels the league is presenting a one-path option: relocation of the team to a market of its choosing at a value of its choosing,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Ramona Shelburne and Alexa Philippou wrote in their report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the Mohegan Tribe hired investment bank Allen and Company in May<\/a>, to facilitate \u201cexploring all options to strategically invest in the team,\u201d the league reportedly asked them to allow the Cleveland Cavaliers ownership group a first chance to buy the team \u2013 but at a price lower than the $250 million figure. It\u2019s then, ESPN said, the league \u201cbecame antagonistic toward the sale,\u201d when the tribe declined Cleveland\u2019s bid and sought other offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their sources said that the WNBA sent two letters stating that the tribe \u201cdoes not have the right\u2026to change the playing site of the Team\u2019s home games from Mohegan Sun Arena or to conduct any Team operations outside of the Team Member\u2019s Territory (which is defined as the 75-mile area surrounding Montville, Connecticut).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, sports territories align with market boundaries<\/a> used for broadcast media \u2013 but Connecticut has always been a unique case<\/a>. Unlike larger states, most of Connecticut exists in just one media market \u2013 save for Fairfield County, which is nominally part of the New York City area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the report\u2019s definition of the Sun\u2019s territory is correct, a 75-mile radius out from the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort includes nearly all of Connecticut (except the most western towns of Fairfield and Litchfield counties), the whole of Rhode Island, and a good portion of Massachusetts including the greater Springfield area and the South Coast region. Notably, this distance doesn\u2019t include Boston but does overlap most of the \u201cMetro West\u201d part of the Boston market including Worcester, and as close as Brookline, Mass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The territory also includes significant overlap with the New York Liberty, if calculated the same way. From a bird\u2019s eye view, the Sun also claims most of Long Island, which is usually associated with the New York City market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lasry\u2019s bid, which would keep the team inside their current territory by playing their home games at Peoples Bank Arena<\/a> in downtown Hartford, is also reportedly on thin ice. Another source for the CT Insider<\/a> revealed that the WNBA told the Sun that the Hartford bid is a \u201cwaste of time,\u201d since they\u2019d prefer to move the team to a more lucrative city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the team moves an inch for any portion of the season, it\u2019s out of Connecticut,\u201d their source said, referencing the league\u2019s hardball attitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CT Insider also reports that the Mohegan Tribe would now rather sell to Lasry\u2019s group, as long as the purchase price is the same or greater, since that bid\u2019s based in Connecticut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The league recently awarded<\/a> expansion teams to Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich; and Philadelphia, PA. following the 2024 announcements of a new team<\/a> for Toronto, Ontario and a revival<\/a> in Portland, Ore. \u2013 but Houston, Texas \u201cwould be up next for sure,\u201d Cathy Engelbert said in June<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city is currently host to the NBA\u2019s Rockets and MLB and NFL teams. Houston previously also had a WNBA team, the Comets, from the league\u2019s founding in 1997 until 2008 \u2013 but it shut down<\/a> due to financial issues and ownership shifts. That club won the first four WNBA championship titles \u2013 in a row<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current owners of the Rockets submitted a bid<\/a> for a new WNBA team as part of the recent expansion process, but it reportedly fell short<\/a> of that $250 million expansion fee. Houston would be one of those cities \u201cwith priority,\u201d but it\u2019s muddy when the league considers expansion and relocation equally \u2013 especially since they didn\u2019t in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reports also suggest<\/a> the league is eager to assert their plans and cash in with a similar relocation fee, since money from a team sale would just go to the team\u2019s owners. When the league offered to buy the Sun, they\u2019d waive that relocation fee to sell to a group of its choosing, the ESPN report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a bad idea for the league to try to take this team out of Connecticut to some other area,\u201d Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam told reporters<\/a> before these developments. \u201cI think it would be great for the league to continue to expand\u2026but we would ask that they not intentionally try to steer a team out of Connecticut, which is a place that has supported the women\u2019s basketball game for decades.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout history, many sports teams have moved \u2013 even in the WNBA\u2019s short timeline. Arulampalam previously likened the Sun\u2019s situation to when the City of Cleveland, Ohio and fans sued the NFL<\/a> in the \u201890s over a potential Browns move \u2013 an ordeal that ended in compromise<\/a>. Others remember the Raiders\u2019 successful antitrust suit<\/a> in the \u201880s, which allowed that team to move from a California suburb to Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Could the same happen here? Even without the notion of legal action, the Mohegan Tribe could keep a majority stake in the team and sell a partial interest \u2013 say, to Lasry\u2019s group. The Sun could then play some of their home games at Mohegan Sun and the rest in Hartford. If the league is looking for \u201cbigger and better,\u201d the Peoples Bank Arena\u2019s multimillion dollar renovation<\/a> should satisfy \u2013 already seating more than other WNBA teams\u2019 arenas. Perhaps the Sun could even play some games at Amica Mutual Pavilion<\/a> in Providence, R.I. (affectionately known to Big East fans as \u201cThe Dunk\u201d<\/a>) or the Mass Mutual Center<\/a> in Springfield, Mass. \u2014\u00a0 both located inside their territory. It is unclear about what aspects of such an arrangement could go against the league\u2019s current rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multiple WNBA teams have moved venues or split time within their market, like the New York Liberty<\/a>, Chicago Sky<\/a>, and Seattle Storm<\/a>. Not to mention special games, exhibitions and one-time events in other venues, not unlike the Sun\u2019s contests in Boston or the NBA hosting the Celtics vs. Knicks over the years in Uncasville<\/a> and Hartford<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

I think it\u2019s a bad idea for the league to try to take this team out of Connecticut to some other area<\/p>\n

Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All the same, the Mohegan Tribe could choose not to sell after all and return to the status quo, but it looks like any prospective team owner looking to sell could face the same trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With questions still unanswered, the Sun could end up being a casualty of the WNBA\u2019s business-first decisions \u2014 poised to slight not just current fans but the whole of New England if the team is forced out from its Nutmeg home. For folks in the \u201cBasketball Capital of the World,\u201d supporters of women\u2019s basketball before it was cool \u2014 the thought is disparaging, but at least the Sun will continue to play in Connecticut through the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s still uncertainty about the future, but our loyal fans, they\u2019re excited to be able to watch this team grow,\u201d team president (and UConn great) Jennifer Rizzotti said at a press conference<\/a> after news of the Boston bid broke. \u201cIf it ends up being our last year here, we\u2019re going to make sure we blow it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands of social media posts and calls to public officials have been made to keep the Sun in our state, WFSB Channel 3 reports<\/a>. Before these developments, Governor Lamont told reporters<\/a> that \u201c[The State of Connecticut] will do what it takes to keep the Sun in Connecticut.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more information about the Connecticut Sun and the WNBA, visit sun.wnba.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The plot is thickening in the saga of the Connecticut Sun\u2019s potential future. With a record-breaking figure in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-193847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115134191550284220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}