<\/p>\n
FILE – Connecticut Sun guard Saniya Rivers handles the ball during a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
FILE – WNBA League President Val Ackerman, left, and Mohegan Tribe Tribal Chairman Mark Brown hold a basketball shirt of the type that will be worn by the WNBA team Connecticut Sun during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.<\/p>\n
BOB CHILD\/AP Photo\/BOB CHILD<\/p>\n
FILE – Connecticut Sun guard Charlisse Leger-Walker celebrates after sinking a basket in the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
In this image provided by Beth Regan, Beth Regan, right, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe\u2019s Council of Elder, poses with Connecticut Sun President Jennifer Rizzoti at a WNBA basketball game in Uncasville, Conn. (Courtesy Beth Regan via AP)<\/p>\n
Beth Regan\/Beth Regan via AP<\/p>\n
In this image taken with a smartphone, Beth Regan, left, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe\u2019s Council of Elder, and her sister Kathy Regan-Pyne pose for a selfie with Saniya Rivers and Marina Mabrey in Washington, D.C. in 2025. (Beth Regan via AP)<\/p>\n
Beth Regan\/Beth Regan via AP<\/p>\n
For Cass Meehan, childhood visits to their Mohegan homelands meant family time and basketball. At six, sporting a red jersey that hung past their knees, Meehan joined a roaring crowd at some of the Connecticut Sun\u2019s first WNBA games.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two decades later, the Mohegans have sold the Sun to the Houston Rockets and the Sun is relocating.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the energy in the arena,\u201d Meehan said. \u201cI knew it was Mohegan\u2019s team we were cheering for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now 29, Meehan is among a loyal group of Mohegan fans preparing to say goodbye to a team that became a point of community pride.<\/p>\n
The Mohegan Tribe purchased its WNBA franchise for $10 million in 2003, becoming the first Native American tribe to own a professional sports team. Over 24 seasons, the Connecticut Sun connected generations of tribal members and gave Mohegan people a platform to share their language, culture and values with the league and its fast growing fan base.<\/p>\n
But in May, the tribe\u2019s business arm closed a $300 million deal with Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta to sell the Sun and relocate the team, with proceeds going to help strengthen the tribe’s balance sheet as it digs out from substantial debt.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Beth Regan, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe\u2019s Council of Elders and a self-proclaimed \u201cDay 1\u201d Connecticut Sun fan, said the team\u2019s last game on Mohegan land on Thursday night will be emotional.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily and community mean everything to us,\u201d Regan said. \u201cThe Connecticut Sun are part of our ch\u00e1hshayoo\u00f4, our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tribal members embraced the team <\/p>\n
Basketball is not a particular passion for Meehan, who uses they\/them pronouns. Their loyalty and enthusiasm for the Sun is an exception.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s not a good year and they\u2019re not winning or whatever,\u201d Meehan said. \u201cThe team is special and the fan base is special.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMeehan remembers wearing their hair in space buns like their favorite Sun player, Nykesha Sales, and flocking to the tunnel<\/a> with other tribal members to ask for players\u2019 autographs.<\/p>\n Players visited tribal youth camps and the annual Mohegan Wigwam Festival. The Sun\u2019s fiery, free-spirited mascot, Blaze, made appearances at social dances.<\/p>\n Generations of Heather Landry’s Mohegan family connect over their love of the Sun. Landry bought season tickets this year, giving her 10-year-old daughter Emersyn an opportunity to meet favorite players and even score a selfie with Brittany Griner and Saniya Rivers.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But Landry said her favorite memory of the team came when her family stopped by the Mohegan government center, happened upon a Sun practice session in the community gym and got invited to watch from the bleachers.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure my daughter will cry when we walk out of the arena on Thursday,\u201d Landry said of the team’s last game in Connecticut.<\/p>\n The Sun \u201cMoheganized\u201d the WNBA <\/p>\n In April, when WNBA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker learned she had been drafted by an Indigenous-owned team, she felt it was \u201cmeant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Leger-Walker, who is M\u0101ori and Samoan, said Mohegan elders often visited Sun practices to welcome new players and offer blessings and prayers for the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was cool for me to come to that realization, that a lot of my values that I carry with me from home are the exact same here,\u201d Leger-Walker said.<\/p>\n From halftime performances featuring tribal singers and dancers to a team logo styled after a traditional Mohegan symbol, the Connecticut Sun brought Mohegan culture to the WNBA and to a national stage.<\/p>\n Regan has smudged the team with sage during losing streaks, a cleansing practice meant to help the players let go of poor performances. She has also gifted injured players sweetgrass braids and laughed when she remembered athletes including 6\u20196\u201d center Jonquel Jones hugging their knees to squeeze into the community\u2019s sweat lodge.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In 2021, when the WNBA and Nike gave team uniforms an upgrade, Regan said it was the perfect opportunity to \u201cMoheganize\u201d their uniforms with imagery like the \u201ctrail of life\u201d motif, which is traditionally painted on woven baskets, and alternating purple and white trim styled after a wampum<\/a> collar. One of the team\u2019s alternate jerseys displays the word \u201cKeesusk,\u201d the Mohegan word for \u201cSun.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur languages were taken from us in colonization,\u201d Regan said. \u201cSo to see \u2018Keesusk\u2019 on those uniforms is so joyous, so validating for our tribe.\u201d<\/p>\n The tribe took an early bet on the WNBA<\/p>\n The Mohegan Tribe purchased the WNBA\u2019s Orlando Miracle in 2003 amid a financial crisis for the league with no clear path forward. That’s when the team relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut and became the Sun.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By 2010, the Sun had made deep playoff runs, ranked near the top of the league in game attendance and became the first WNBA team to turn a profit despite playing in the league’s smallest market.<\/p>\n Following the Mohegan’s lead, other tribes have since invested in professional sports to diversify their economies. Wilton Rancheria is now majority owner of Major League Soccer’s Sacramento Republic FC. The Seneca Nation recently purchased the National Lacrosse League\u2019s Rochester Knighthawks. And the Pechanga Band of Indians’ business arm is a founding partner of the LA Clippers’ Intuit Dome arena.<\/p>\n Regan said the \u201cwriting’s been on the wall\u201d since the WNBA exploded in popularity and players negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement that requires teams to provide state-of-the-art practice facilities among other expensive upgrades that the tribe would have struggled to afford.<\/p>\n The Mohegan Tribal Council declined an emailed interview request Wednesday. In selling the team, Meehan trusts that the council made the right business decision. But they called the WNBA’s move to effectively block a deal that would have sent the Sun to Boston, a much closer venue, a \u201cbetrayal” of the tribe that they say rescued the franchise.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Ahead of Thursday’s final game, Meehan is gathering 24 years of Connecticut Sun mementos\u2014ticket stubs, her original 2003 team jersey\u2014to keep in a framed shadow box signed by the 2026 team’s players.<\/p>\n Regan fought tears while explaining what Mohegan people will lose when the team relocates. She said her people should be proud of the role they played in shaping the WNBA’s success story.<\/p>\n