Report: Connecticut Sun sold for $325 million, will relocate to Boston as soon as 2027

HARTFORD, Conn. — The Mohegan Tribe has reached a deal to sell the Connecticut Sun with an ownership group, led by Celtics minority governor Steve Pagliuca, that will relocate the team to the Boston as soon as 2027, according to a published report from the Boston Globe on Saturday.

The Globe reported that Pagliuca’s group will reportedly pay $325 million to purchase the Sun with plans to invest an additional $100 million to build the team a dedicated practice facility in Boston. The sale, which is pending approval from the WNBA and league governors, would be the largest in the history of women’s professional sports. The Mohegan Tribe spent approximately $10 million to relocate the franchise from Orlando to Uncasville in 2003.

The Sun have been directing all inquiries regarding a potential sale to the Mohegan Tribe, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The franchise is being sold at a massive premium with their current valuation at approximately $80 million, but the $325 million figure tracks with the league’s explosion of growth in recent years. The WNBA added its first expansion team since 2008 this season with the Golden State Valkyries, and five additional franchises will be added by 2030. Portland and Toronto will join in 2026, then Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.

Ownership groups in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia each paid a $250 million expansion fee, also a record in women’s professional sports.

“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of our most recent expansion process, in which three new franchises were awarded … 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. Celtics prospective ownership has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”

The tribe began exploring a potential sale of the Sun in the spring when it retained investment bank Allen & Company to facilitate a strategic review of its investment in the WNBA franchise. The team announced to season-ticket holders on July 24 that it planned to remain at Mohegan Sun Arena for the 2026 season, now likely its last in Connecticut after 24 years.

Under Pagliuca’s ownership, the Sun would share a home arena at TD Garden with the Celtics and Bruins. The Globe reported that the team could also play early season games in Providence to avoid conflicts with the NBA and NHL postseason schedules. The Sun have played a game at TD Garden in each of the last two seasons, selling out more than 19,000 seats in 2024 against the Los Angeles Sparks and again in 2025 against the Indiana Fever.

“If it was up to me, we’d probably relocate here,” Sun rookie Saniya Rivers said ahead of this year’s TD Garden game. “Just being able to come into a neighboring city and play, I think it does a lot for women’s basketball in general. It gets some noise around here, gets people supporting women’s basketball, and hopefully maybe they can advocate for us, maybe even to relocate. I love Connecticut, it’s fine, but I think the marketing here itself is just going to be better for a women’s basketball program.”

The demands of owning a WNBA team have escalated rapidly amid the league’s unprecedented rise in popularity, and almost every existing team has committed tens of millions to constructing state-of-the-art practice facilities and improving the player experience in order to attract free agents. Connecticut is the only team in the WNBA without access to a professional-caliber practice facility outside their arena or plans to build one.

The Sun currently train in the gym at the Mohegan Community & Government Center when the arena is unavailable, and they occasionally have to split the space with a fitness class or event — a child’s birthday party infamously interrupted a practice during the first round of the 2024 WNBA playoffs. The only other team that shares a public space without plans to build a facility is the Atlanta Dream, but the Core 4 Complex they train at is a fully-resourced athletic center that allows them to reserve private time in the building.

Connecticut has paid for ownership’s lack of proactive investment on the court this season, currently sitting in last place in the league with a 5-21 record after making seven consecutive postseason appearances. The entire 2024 starting lineup left either via trade or free agency during the offseason, including longtime franchise player Alyssa Thomas, five-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner and three-time All-Star Brionna Jones. Thomas was vocal about the role resources played in her signing with the Mercury, and the Sun struggled to attract veteran replacements for its former stars.

The Sun’s most notable free agent signing in 2025 was 2013 league MVP Tina Charles, but Charles is approaching the end of her career at age 36 and hasn’t earned an All-Star selection since 2021. Connecticut also lost head coach Stephanie White, who was hired to lead the Indiana Fever.

With the vast majority of veterans in the league set to hit free agency this offseason when the current collective bargaining agreement expires, the Sun’s lack of resources in Connecticut will continue to put a ceiling on their potential. In The Athletic’s annual anonymous player survey, the Sun were voted the second worst-run organization in the league behind only the Chicago Sky.

“The travel and location (make it unappealing),” an anonymous player said.

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