Pags to buy Connecticut Sun, Move to Boston (update: or not???)

[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.

[ozgod]

As Roy mentioned, the WNBA and its Board of Governors has put the kibosh on Pags's offer to buy the Sun, saying it's not his decision, but their decision.

The league?s statement, which Pagliuca responded to Sunday night, is an absolute head-scratcher, putting the brakes on everything good about the potential sale, stifling so much remarkably positive news.

Like a kid who doesn?t want to be told what to do, the league would really rather take the ball and go home, ignoring the incredible boost this sale would mean for public perception, for Boston, for players, and for the current owners of the Sun? Just because it doesn?t quite follow the normal expansion path?

?Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,? the statement opened, citing the June decision to award franchises to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, cities that joined recent and future teams in Golden State, Toronto, and Portland, Ore. As the statement pointed out, ?nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration,? and that ?no groups from Boston applied for a team at that time.?

Using ?the extensive work [those other cities] did as part of the expansion process? as their defense, the league said all of them ?have priority over Boston.? Words that make it clear Boston wouldn?t be in their expansion mix until 2033 at the earliest.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/03/sports/tara-sullivan-connecticut-sun-boston/

It's worth noting that Pags's offer to buy the team and relocate it to Boston is not a request for an expansion team, it's a proposal to spend $325m to relocate the team from a small arena where the team doesn't have its own practice facility (Pags would spend an additional $100m to build one) and a way to bail out an ownership group that is in financial difficulties. But apparently WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the Board of Governors are miffed they weren't asked first.

[Donoghus]

Sounds like we have a mess unfolding with the Nutmeg State Sun.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/08/13/report-wnba-blocking-sun-deal-with-conn-group/

A Connecticut group, including the state and billionaire Marc Lasry, ?has exactly matched? the reported $325M bid from Boston to buy the Connecticut Sun, but the WNBA?s ?hardline position on a move to Hartford is blocking progress,? according to sources. The Connecticut bid would keep the team in the state and ?games would be played at the PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.? The state ?would take on the cost of building a much needed practice facility at a pricetag of about? $100M ?in or near Hartford,? sources said. But the league -- not just the WNBA but also the NBA -- ?is enforcing its right to say where a team that?s up for sale can move,? and it ?wants a team in a larger market someplace else.? Sources said ?all things being equal, and apparently they are,? the Sun?s current owners -- the Mohegan Tribe -- ?would prefer to sell to an ownership group that keeps the team in Connecticut.? Sources did note the state?s offer ?is not as complete as the offer from the Boston group,? and until it is, ?the league can?t get a clear picture to make a final decision? (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 8/13).

[Moranis]

What an amateur league.  Pags may luck out if they kill the deal.

[Roy H.]

I understand any league wanting to pick and choose its owners carefully, and to want some control over what cities get teams.

But it seems wild to me that the league is trying to kill the biggest sale in league history because the owner wants to move the team to Boston or Hartford, rather than, say, Houston.

I say, take the owners where you find them.  Pags is committed to the Boston area.  He has all kinds of connections in the Boston area.  He was just a credible candidate to purchase the Celtics at around a $6 billion valuation.  Why kick that guy to the curb, simply because he didn't put in a bid for an expansion franchise?

[Moranis]

I understand any league wanting to pick and choose its owners carefully, and to want some control over what cities get teams.

But it seems wild to me that the league is trying to kill the biggest sale in league history because the owner wants to move the team to Boston or Hartford, rather than, say, Houston.

I say, take the owners where you find them.  Pags is committed to the Boston area.  He has all kinds of connections in the Boston area.  He was just a credible candidate to purchase the Celtics at around a $6 billion valuation.  Why kick that guy to the curb, simply because he didn't put in a bid for an expansion franchise?

Plus, why would anyone put in an expansion bid when there was a team in Connecticut.  They never would have put a team in Boston as it would have killed the Connecticut team's market. 

It is why despite being the biggest city (by population) in Ohio, that Columbus' only 2 top level pro teams are the Blue Jackets and Crew i.e. the sports that don't have pro teams in Cleveland or Cincinnati.  The NBA, MLB, and NFL would never allow Columbus an expansion team (Pittsburgh and Indianapolis aren't that far away either).