That concern turned into outrage as the proposed Boston sale and a separate counteroffer, which would keep the team in state but move it to Hartford, were both ignored by the WNBA as it considers sending the team elsewhere. U.S. Senator, and former state attorney general, Richard Blumenthal went so far as to raise antitrust concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n State officials swiftly launched a campaign<\/a> calling for the Sun to stay in Connecticut and urging residents to sign a petition to help make the case to the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n Connecticut officials are also considering a plan that would see the state use pension funds to purchase a minority stake in the Sun in order to keep the team. While the proposal has received support<\/a> from Gov. Ned Lamont, the possible use of pension funds has drawn criticism from both legislative Republicans<\/a> and unions<\/a>; Both argue there are better uses for the money.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be structure and fiscal responsibility and a level of respect for taxpayer money and for public employees\u2019 money,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said at a press conference last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far everything is still in the air. The WNBA has not made a decision, and much of the public debate is based on potential situations rather than any agreed upon plan. There is no clear timetable for when a decision on the Sun\u2019s fate will be made.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But the discussion has raised questions, not just around the team\u2019s future, but also around its value to Connecticut and the power of the team as a catalyst for economic development in the state. With two options on the table that could see the Sun playing home games in Hartford, there\u2019s also a question of how much the city and surrounding region would gain.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a complicated thing to consider, requiring an understanding of the WNBA\u2019s recent growth, as well as how sports and local economies feed off of one another. And much like the broader discussions of the Sun to this point, experts say finding an exact answer is somewhat murky.<\/p>\n The WNBA has exploded in popularity. Team valuations reflect that<\/p>\n One thing that\u2019s clearer is the rise of the WNBA as a major sports league. Professional women\u2019s basketball has come a long way from the early 2000s, when the Mohegan Tribe first purchased the then-Orlando Miracle for just $10 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n In recent years, the league has grown considerably, expanding the number of teams and seeing an explosion of popularity as players draw attention on and off the court. That\u2019s spurred increased merchandise sales, higher TV ratings and larger audiences. In 2025, women\u2019s basketball is expected to generate some $1 billion in revenue<\/a>, up from the $710 million it generated in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n That success has had a notable impact on the economics of the WNBA, especially around player wages and team valuations. A recent study from Sportico, a digital content company, found that team valuations have increased an average of 180%<\/a>\u00a0over the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cValuations are incredibly high,\u201d said Ceyda Mumcu, an expert in sports marketing and fan behavior at the University of New Haven. \u201cAnd there are certainly individuals looking at women\u2019s sports franchises as investment options.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sun has benefited from this growth. As recently as 2022, the team\u2019s attendance was in the top half of the league, averaging roughly 5,712 visitors per game. In 2025, that number soared to an average of roughly 8,653 attendees<\/a> per game, though the attendance figures now \u2014 at the close of a lackluster season \u2014 place the Sun closer to the bottom of the league rankings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sun also successfully sold out TD Garden<\/a> in Boston, when the team played single games there in 2024 and 2025, adding support to the proposed move to Boston and demonstrating the strength of the regional New England audience for women\u2019s basketball. According to Sportico\u2019s analysis<\/a>, the team is now worth 18 times what the Mohegan Tribe\u00a0paid in 2003. And it could sell for nearly twice that.<\/p>\n Sports economists say that some of this success is to be expected. \u201cThe WNBA has gone through exactly the same stages of development that the NBA went through,\u201d said David Berri, an economics professor at Southern Utah University and co-author of \u201cSlaying the Trolls! Why the Trolls Are Very, Very Wrong about Women and Sports.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt usually takes three or four decades for a professional sports league made up of teams to gain an audience,\u201d Berri added. \u201cThat was true of the NBA, that was true of the NFL, that was true of Major League Baseball, and now it\u2019s true of the WNBA.\u201d<\/p>\n Hartford shoots its shot<\/p>\n Even if the league\u2019s growing popularity is part of why its leaders might be interested in moving the Sun to a larger market, supporters of keeping the team in Connecticut say the WNBA\u2019s push is difficult to accept.\u00a0<\/p>\n The frustrations are perhaps even more compounded for fans in Hartford, who could benefit from the two proposals to keep the Sun in state \u2014 particularly the counteroffer deal backed by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Mike Lasry<\/a>, which reportedly would include a new practice facility in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Local economic development experts noted that the city has had a decades-long drought of major league sports team activity in the wake of the Hartford Whalers exit in 1997<\/a>. Previous efforts to attract an established sports franchise, including a doomed bid for the New England Patriots<\/a> in 1999, have not worked out.<\/p>\n Dustin Nord, director of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association\u2019s Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity, said even now people tell him that \u201cthe worst thing to happen to Connecticut was when the Whalers left \u2014 and this is 30 years after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s very clear that these types of decisions have ripple effects well into the future for generations of people,\u201d Nord said.<\/p>\n In August, Nord wrote a blog post <\/a>supporting the idea of moving the Connecticut Sun to Hartford, arguing that \u201cConnecticut needs sports, and the squads that decide to come here do so with resounding success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview earlier this month, Nord further explained how a major league team could fit into the city, noting that Hartford already supports multiple UConn basketball games and that minor league sports have had an impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n UConn athletics alone have had some effect in the regional economy. According to its annual athletic impact report for 2022-23<\/a>, UConn\u2019s sports teams supported 333 jobs in Hartford County and 1,500 jobs throughout the state. Visitor and fan spending as a result of UConn athletics generated $32.3 million in statewide economic output and $8.3 million in Hartford County as the result of \u201cdirect, indirect, and induced activities,\u201d the report found.<\/p>\n Connecticut\u2019s reputation as a hot spot for women\u2019s college basketball \u2014 a position the state has emphasized as officials make their case to the WNBA \u2014 also makes the Sun a good fit in Hartford, Nord argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have a pro sports team outside of minor league sports in Hartford or in the area,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you compare it to a lot of other places, you could put a professional sports team, a major league, professional sports team, [and access]\u00a0two and a half million people without any real competition. That\u2019s a pretty compelling case.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNBA discussions are also taking shape as downtown Hartford\u2019s recently renamed PeoplesBank Arena nears the end of a $145 million renovation that will update the facility\u2019s amenities and infrastructure.<\/p>\n Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Regional Development Authority, which is overseeing the renovation effort, said if a deal is reached to bring the Sun to town, the arena will be ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGenerally between late May to early September is a slow period for the arena. The WNBA fits right into that slot,\u201d Freimuth said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a bonus activity\u2026it brings in additional events to the building that play out across the downtown neighborhood. It drives business in the hotels. It drives business in the restaurants. It drives business in parking garages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The economic impact of sports isn\u2019t as clear cut\u00a0<\/p>\n But while the prospect of moving the Sun to Hartford has drawn the support and cautious optimism of some local development experts \u2014 as well as the backing of Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam<\/a> \u2014 a major economic boon to the city isn\u2019t guaranteed.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the mid-2010s the city placed a bet on the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team, arguing that the team \u2014 and the roughly $60 million the city was spending <\/a>on constructing a new downtown ballpark \u2014 would help spur new development in the area, including a mixed-use project with housing, a supermarket and restaurants.<\/p>\n By the time the park was completed, the city\u2019s portion of the cost had ballooned to more than $70 million, in part due to delays from the initial developers tasked with the project, who later sued after being fired<\/a>. The park was later finished by a different company.<\/p>\n Dunkin\u2019 Park opened to significant fanfare and accolades in 2017, and has continued to see its attendance grow, with the Yard Goats drawing in hundreds of thousands of attendees last year and winning the title of Minor League Baseball\u2019s 2024 Organization of the Year<\/a>. Officials have pointed to the ballpark as a source of hope and potential boost for other development initiatives<\/a> in the city, adding that the increased traffic downtown could encourage more business owners to consider moving in.<\/p>\n But the ballpark project didn\u2019t immediately make money. In 2017 and 2018, the city was losing more than $3 million a year<\/a> on the facility. Sports economists say this isn\u2019t all that unusual, adding that despite the money poured into them, sports stadiums and related local sports initiatives rarely generate much impact on their own.<\/p>\n When it comes to sports teams and stadiums, \u201cthe economic footprint of these things is very, very small, and it\u2019s very, very limited in terms of the calendar,\u201d said Michael Leeds, a sports economist and professor of economics at Temple University. \u201cImagine yourself building a mall, building a shopping center that is going to be operational one month out of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose economic ripples die down very, very quickly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP24135850029119-771x514.jpg\")
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, left, and UConn women\u2019s head basketball coach Geno Auriemma, watch players for the Connecticut Sun and Indiana Fever warm up before a WNBA basketball game, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, Uncasville, Conn. Credit: Jessica Hill \/ AP<\/p>\n