Pags to buy Connecticut Sun, move them to Boston

[Roy H.]

A group led by Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca is purchasing the Connecticut Sun for a record $325 million and putting another $100 million towards a team-specific practice facility, with the intention of moving the team to Boston, according to multiple reports.

The move could come as soon as the 2027 season, according to The Associated Press. News of the sale was first reported by the Boston Globe.

[Jiri Welsch]

I assume they'll play their games at the Garden?

[Surferdad]

I assume they'll play their games at the Garden?

I really wonder what Pags is thinking here. The Sun won?t have their own arena and likely cannot afford to build. Also building a new arena is proving difficult in the greater Boston area. The Bruins own TD Garden and I am not sure if there are many open event slots for another team.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Man, he went from being a part owner of the Celtics to being a part owner of a WNBA team...hmmmm.

[Roy H.]

I assume they'll play their games at the Garden?

I really wonder what Pags is thinking here. The Sun won?t have their own arena and likely cannot afford to build. Also building a new arena is proving difficult in the greater Boston area. The Bruins own TD Garden and I am not sure if there are many open event slots for another team.

I've got to think that he has a plan in place.  But you're right, Wyc cited lack of a viable arena as a reason there wasn't a WNBA team here.

[ChillyWilly]

I'm really surprised a WNBA team was worth hundreds of millions.

Didn't the WNBA selloff like 15-20% of their entire league just a few years ago to financial group made up of popular rich people to help float the league for under $100m?

I get they have a new TV deal and that its much larger than they had before but it's still very small.

$425m investment feels like he could have bought half the league.

[Roy H.]

The Mohegan Tribe?s ambition to sell and relocate the Connecticut Sun to Boston for a record $325M has created tension within the league office, sources said, leading to a terse WNBA statement Saturday that the nine cities who lost recent expansion bids ?currently have priority over Boston? and inferring that the Tribe could be forced to sell to one of those cities instead. Those sources said that the Sun, over recent months, has shunned other cities that have inquired about buying the team -- refusing to take meetings with bidders outside of Boston, for instance -- and ?hasn?t been great in how they have handled? the prospective sale. ?They just don?t feel like the league has any control over their process,? the source said. ?It will get much worse before it gets better.?

That seems like a bad take by the WNBA.  They'd rather surrender New England completely rather than letting the team move to the Boston area?

[boscel33]

The Mohegan Tribe?s ambition to sell and relocate the Connecticut Sun to Boston for a record $325M has created tension within the league office, sources said, leading to a terse WNBA statement Saturday that the nine cities who lost recent expansion bids ?currently have priority over Boston? and inferring that the Tribe could be forced to sell to one of those cities instead. Those sources said that the Sun, over recent months, has shunned other cities that have inquired about buying the team -- refusing to take meetings with bidders outside of Boston, for instance -- and ?hasn?t been great in how they have handled? the prospective sale. ?They just don?t feel like the league has any control over their process,? the source said. ?It will get much worse before it gets better.?

That seems like a bad take by the WNBA.  They'd rather surrender New England completely rather than letting the team move to the Boston area?

There's no way.  No one else is stepping up to pay that.  I think I read that Atl was the last team sold, for around 10M-14M.