The team will begin\u00a0play\u00a0in Houston with the 2027 season.<\/p>\n
![\"Marina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_usatoday_us_articles_590\/397bacbac3d73cae79d55f1ba421430f.jpeg\"\/)
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Marina Mabrey #3, Kariata Diaby #23, Saniya Rivers #22, Aneesah Morrow #24 and Haley Peters #7 of the Connecticut Sun stand on the court as a play is reviewed in the third quarter against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on June 1, 2025.<\/p>\n
The announcement, made shortly before the Sun took on the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces in a\u00a069-98 loss<\/a>\u00a0at Mohegan Sun Arena, officially ends months of speculation over\u00a0the Connecticut Sun\u2019s future in the state<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to a\u00a0March report<\/a>, Fertitta\u00a0purchased\u00a0the Sun for $300 million, the largest sale in WNBA history, though less than what other prospective buyers in Boston and Hartford had offered. The Mohegan Tribe confirmed the sale in late March.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The formal vote Wednesday was the\u00a0final step\u00a0in the process, giving the WNBA the chance to grant its final seal of approval to a deal that it has guided for months. The league has faced criticism for how it handled the Connecticut Sun deal, with critics arguing that the league pushed out prospective buyers and did not allow the Mohegan Tribe, which purchased the Sun in 2003, to sell to its preferred buyer or accept a deal that would keep the team in Hartford.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Shortly after the relocation was first reported in March, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal\u00a0argued<\/a>\u00a0that the deal was \u201ca violation of fair competition,\u201d calling for the federal Department of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation into the matter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s more than ample support here from fans and also from the local economy, which will suffer as a result of losing the Connecticut Sun,\u201d he said at an April press conference in Hartford.\u00a0\u201cThe WNBA must be held accountable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The team\u2019s future was first thrown into the public spotlight last August when reports surfaced that Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca was looking to purchase the team for $325 million and\u00a0relocate\u00a0it to Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n That kicked off a wave of activity in Connecticut, with a group of investors led by former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry making a counteroffer to move the team to Hartford for a similar amount\u00a0as\u00a0the Pagliuca offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Connecticut deal also had state support, with Gov. Ned Lamont\u00a0floating a proposal to use pension funds<\/a>\u00a0to purchase a minority stake in the team to strengthen the offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But the WNBA, which is\u00a0largely owned\u00a0by the NBA and influenced by NBA-affiliated team owners, brushed off the offers, arguing that the league, not the Mohegan Tribe, was the only party with the power to approve a sale. The league\u2019s\u00a0preferred buyer had long been Houston<\/a>, further aligning WNBA ownership with that of NBA teams.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Connecticut Sun sale arrives as the WNBA is experiencing an explosion in popularity, with attendance and team valuations\u00a0growing\u00a0and the league looking to place teams in strong markets. The surge has also prompted calls for better facilities, pay and quality of life for players, things that the Mohegan Tribe, the first independent owner of an NBA team, had fallen behind on compared to others.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The sale\u00a0closes\u00a0the era of independent support that had\u00a0maintained\u00a0the Sun in the years before the WNBA\u2019s popularity grew. While the team has struggled in recent years, it was one of the more successful franchises of the 2010s and early 2020s,\u00a0making the playoffs eight times<\/a>, and appearing in the WNBA finals twice since 2016.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n With the relocation now official, Connecticut is losing its last major league sports team. And while several professional sports, including baseball and\u00a0soccer<\/a>, are looking to grow in the state, the Sun\u2019s loss has been particularly difficult to swallow given Connecticut\u2019s long history of achievement in women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, as the team searches for its first win in its last season here, those working for the Connecticut Sun say that their focus is on the fans that have\u00a0backed\u00a0the franchise for years, even when the WNBA\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0popular.\u00a0The team will play two games in Hartford this year, as well as one game at Boston\u2019s TD Garden before moving south.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want our staff and players to just be able to focus on this season and being present for the 2026 last season in Connecticut,\u201d Sun president Jen Rizzotti\u00a0told reporters on Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cI think our fans deserve that.”<\/p>\n P.R. Lockhart is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (https:\/\/ctmirror.org<\/a>). Copyright 2026\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0The Connecticut\u00a0Mirror.<\/p>\n