The days of WNBA basketball in Uncasville could be numbered. According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has agreed to a deal with the Mohegan Tribe to purchase the Connecticut Sun, and he has aspirations to relocate the team. I bet you can guess where.
Per Washburn's report, Pagliuca's offer is for $325 million, which would be $75 million more than the price for a WNBA expansion team these days. If approved, it would be the most expensive sale for a professional women's sports team. On top of that amount, Pagliuca would earmark $100 million for a new practice facility to be built in Boston. The Sun would have their games in TD Garden by 2027, even if that meant spending the early part of their season in Rhode Island to get around any playoff schedules for the Bruins or Celtics.
The move makes a lot of sense in this era of WNBA expansion. The Sun would get to upgrade their facilities like many other teams in the league, and they've already played two games at the Garden to sellout crowds. According to Washburn's report, "the Celtics would have no issue with the Sun moving in." The WNBA might, though.
From the Globe report:
A WNBA spokesperson made clear in a statement “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” and that “no groups from Boston applied for a team” during the recent expansion process.
“Nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration. 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 league statement continued. “A prospective Celtics owner has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”
So the Sun get to play in a better arena and receive a new practice facility. Why would the WNBA stop this obviously good idea from happening? Money. If this sale goes through, the Mohegan Tribe receives that $325 million, as opposed to the split from an expansion fee that goes to the league. This is clearly the quickest and easiest path to a team in Boston, but according to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal, the league might want to force the sale to Houston, or one of the other cities that lost out on an expansion bid.
The league's statement could merely be a negotiating tactic, but it'd be short-sighted to push the Boston project to the 2030s rather than benefit from the eagerness of this particular buyer in this particular market. The Sun need an upgrade, and Boston wants a WNBA team. The players are supportive of it, too. The WNBA retains the power to dictate who makes the purchase, but if the league's going to nix this sale, it'd leave the Sun at a disadvantage while plenty of other franchises improve their facilities. A professional sports team should not be sharing a practice court with a child's birthday party.
