On Tuesday, the Sun host the Sparks at the Garden (7 p.m., NBC Sports Boston) as part of their sunset season. <\/p>\n
And it could be a long time before New England sees the WNBA again.<\/p>\n
The WNBA added two expansion teams this season \u2014 Toronto and Portland \u2014 and will grow by three more teams by 2030<\/a>, expanding the league\u2019s footprint to 18 markets.<\/p>\n Boston, one of the marquee sports cities in North America, is not one of them. <\/p>\n Cleveland rejoins the league in 2028. Detroit will begin play in 2029, followed by Philadelphia in 2030. Each franchise reportedly paid a league-record $250 million expansion fee. <\/p>\n The common thread among those three teams: a strong connection to NBA ownership. Celtics owner Bill Chisholm seems ready to offer a similar arrangement to bring the WNBA in Boston \u2014 when the time is right.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Boston should have a team,\u201d Chisholm said during his introductory press conference<\/a> last September. \u201cThis is the best sports city in the country and this is the birthplace of basketball, so we should have a team. … It\u2019s definitely something we\u2019re going to look at. And I know the NBA has a process, we\u2019ll do what we can to expedite things, but there is a process there. But philosophically it makes so much sense.\u201d<\/p>\n When the door for expansion opens back up, Chisholm seems ready to walk through it. And the WNBA seems to feel the same way.<\/p>\n Speaking to a group of reporters<\/a> ahead of a Portland Fire-Las Vegas Aces game in June, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she expects our region to get a team in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat fan base,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cNew England is a great market for sports. So, yeah, do I foresee in the 2030s \u2014 if we were to do expansion again \u2014 them being part of the process, that region? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a half-decade away \u2014 at least. When asked by the Globe, the league declined to comment on timing for the next round of expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe WNBA is incredibly appreciative of the passionate fans across New England who have supported the Connecticut Sun, our league, and women\u2019s basketball for decades,\u201d the league said in a statement. \u201cThe passion we\u2019ve seen from fans across the region \u2014 including in recent years at TD Garden \u2014 reflects the meaningful connection this community has built with the Sun and the WNBA.\u201d<\/p>\n That connection is coming to an end, and Boston can only sit back and watch the WNBA\u2019s most prosperous era pass us by. <\/p>\n The league has exceeded its viewership from last season, and attendance in 2026 was up 16 percent at last month\u2019s All-Star break.<\/p>\n Prior to this season, the league and its players union reached a landmark collective bargaining agreement<\/a> that guarantees players nearly 20 percent of league and team gross revenue, and the salary cap jumped nearly fivefold to $7 million.<\/p>\n The average WNBA team is worth $427 million, according to Sportico\u2019s valuations \u2014 a 59 percent jump year over year. <\/p>\n By the time expansion does roll around, the WNBA could look completely different. That\u2019s why Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, who played college basketball at Harvard and professionally in Austria, has lobbied to bring a team to New England as soon as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to wait. I don\u2019t want Boston or New England to have to wait that long,\u201d Healey told the Globe last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n With the addition of the NWSL\u2019s Boston Legacy this season, every major North American professional sports league, men\u2019s and women\u2019s, includes a New England team.<\/p>\n But that fact will be true only for one more month. <\/p>\n After Tuesday\u2019s game at TD Garden, just four home games remain in the Sun\u2019s final regular season before this era of women\u2019s basketball in New England comes to a close. <\/p>\n When the Sun sets in Connecticut, the WNBA and New England will both be missing out.<\/p>\n Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com<\/a> or on X @ByEmmaHealy<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Caitlin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PCBNL3Q3Z43EHFCITAA2IJIJQA.JPG\")
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever played in front of a sold-out crowd at TD Garden last year.Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n