The WNBA will officially return to Houston. 

On Friday, the Fertitta family, led by Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, reached a deal with the Mohegan Tribe to purchase the Connecticut Sun, according to PaperCity’s Chris Baldwin. ESPN’s Alexa Phillipou reported that the team was sold for $300 million. 

Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca reportedly attempted to purchase the Sun from the Mohegan Tribe for $325 million. However, the WNBA intervened and canceled the deal because Boston had not taken part in the official expansion process. 

“There are a variety of cities that obviously bid, and one of those I wanted to shout out — because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group — is Houston,” Engelbert said in a 2025 press conference. “The Houston Comets were just an amazing one, the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA. So I would say that’s the one, obviously, we have our eye on. [Owner] Tilman [Feritta’s] been a great supporter of the WNBA, and we’ll stay tuned on that.”

According to the agreement, the Sun will conclude their final season in Connecticut in 2026 before moving to Houston for the 2027 season, likely at the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets. 

It is very likely that the Sun will be rebranded as Houston’s original WNBA team, the Comets. The Houston Comets were one of the league’s original franchises when it was founded in 1996. From 1997 onward, the Comets won four consecutive WNBA titles, led by the trio of stars Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson, with Van Chancellor as their coach. 

However, financial issues plagued the Comets’ ownership in the 2000s, and the team was disbanded in 2008. 

The return of the WNBA to Houston will be quite different from what it was 18 years ago. In 2026, the league is expected to introduce two new teams: the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire. Additionally, new franchises in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland are set to join the league in the coming years.

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