Attorney General William Tong will be making an announcement about the Connecticut Sun on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
The WNBA team\u2019s future in Connecticut has come into question amid a bid from Boston to move the team there and efforts to keep the Sun here in the state.<\/p>\n
In early August, the minority owner of the Boston Celtics offered to buy the team for $325 million, move the team to Boston and build a new practice facility.<\/p>\n
Later in the month, reports surfaced that a Connecticut-based group made a similar offer to keep the team in the state, move them to Hartford and provide a new practice facility.<\/p>\n
Then, last week, Connecticut lawmakers announced that they were looking at a bid to buy a minority stake in the team and keep it in Uncasville.<\/p>\n
Gov. Ned Lamont\u2019s latest attempt to keep the Connecticut Sun in the state involves using pension funds to buy a part of the team.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Lamont and state treasurer Erick Russell said that Connecticut is seeing good returns on its investments, it\u2019s paying down its pension debt and those investments greatly out-performed expectation, adding $5.9 billion in value to a pension fund that is now 60-percent funded.<\/p>\n
That raises hopes that more money will be available in the budget for various needs. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Lamont wants to use some of those funds to keep the Connecticut Sun in state and he\u2019s proposed the state buying a minority share.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t go into details other than to say the state would be joined by other private investors. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey like the nature of the investment, they think it\u2019s a really good long-term return,\u201d Lamont said. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lamont did say the bid includes a 10-year guarantee that the team would stay and that Connecticut would be a senior investor, meaning the state would get priority when it comes to collecting any return.<\/p>\n
Democratic leaders also like pursuing the idea. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would certainly trust the governor and the treasurer to make sure that the state gets maximum benefit for its investment,\u201d Sen. Martin Looney, D-president pro tem, said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
But Republicans said this is not an appropriate use of pension funds. While the fund has doubled over the last decade, Connecticut still has one of the worst-funded systems of any state in the country. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile i think there should be an effort made to try to keep the team here, let\u2019s not throw everything, and I feel like we\u2019re at the casino right now throwing everything on seven,\u201d State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-minority leader, said.<\/p>\n
The WNBA and its board of governors would need to approve any sale or relocation of a team in the league and the league has rejected bids from buyers who want to move the team to Hartford and to Boston.<\/p>\n
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has written a letter to the WNBA, calling for them to stay out of the negotiations and said such interference could violate federal antitrust laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny further attempts by the WNBA to use its considerable governance and market power over the Connecticut Sun to limit or dictate negotiations with the state of Connecticut could be a unreasonable restraint of trade and interference with the market that would violate federal antitrust laws,\u201d\u00a0Blumenthal wrote.\u00a0\u201cAs a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over antitrust matters, I am closely monitoring the WNBA\u2019s actions and will demand investigations and enforcement actions from the appropriate federal authorities if it takes any step to hinder or constrain Connecticut\u2019s negotiations.\u201d <\/p>\n