{"id":195061,"date":"2025-10-01T16:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195061\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:14:08","slug":"is-it-time-to-let-the-connecticut-sun-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195061\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time to let the Connecticut Sun set?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as it pains me to say it, it may be time for the State of Connecticut to confront reality and move on from the WNBA\u2019s Sun. <\/p>\n

As someone that has worked with eastern Connecticut municipalities, specifically in the tourism sector, I know what the presence of a professional sports franchise means for businesses and visitor traffic in the region.<\/p>\n

Of course, the state will not move on\u2013 at least not without a fight. For obvious reasons, government officials will pursue, at least rhetorically, all avenues to keep the franchise in Connecticut. As we know, historically, the Nutmeg State is particularly sensitive to this issue.<\/p>\n

For many, the sting from losing the Hartford Whalers to North Carolina after the 1996-97 season still endures. This is evidenced by the lingering presence of Whaler\u2019s caps, T-shirts, and jerseys still worn by the team\u2019s faithful.<\/p>\n

And then there was the romancing of Hartford by the New England Patriots, only to have the city left at the altar after being used as leverage for a new stadium in Foxboro. Actually, it was less of a romance and more of a one-night stand, with Pat\u2019s owner Robert Kraft leaving in the morning and telling then-Gov. John Rowland, \u201cI\u2019ll call you.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, Sun ownership has done all that it can to prepare the team for a move. Purchased in 2003 for $10 million, the most recent analysis by the website Sportico has the Sun valued at $180 million<\/a>\u2013 12th out of the WNBA\u2019s 13 teams. However, the current bidding war has a Boston investment group battling a proposed Connecticut public-private partnership and dangling the number $325 million. Can the Mohegans resist such a return on investment?<\/p>\n

Also, after reaching the semifinals in 2024, Sun ownership conducted a fire sale and gutted the franchise to the bone. This included the departures of the head coach, Stephanie White, WNBA legends Alyssa Thomas and Dewanna Bonner, and 2024\u2019s Most Improved Player, DiJonai Carrington. Only two players from last year\u2019s roster were around to take the court in 2025.<\/p>\n

Second, a pivotal question is whether, like the Whalers, a professional franchise can flourish in Connecticut sitting halfway between Boston and New York. While league attendance has exploded over the past two years, according to accrossthetimeline.com<\/a>, in 2025, the Sun drew an average of 8,635 fans per game in an arena that has a capacity of 9,323 seats for basketball. As with all WNBA franchises, this is significantly higher than what the team drew in the year 2023 BCC (before Caitlin Clark). But the Sun were still the fourth lowest in attendance this year, only surpassing teams that play at much smaller venues. Also, these attendance numbers were buttressed by a single game against the Indiana Fever held at TD Bank arena in Boston that drew over 19,000 fans- two and one quarter times higher than the usual crowd.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s Athletics website states that Peoples Bank Arena accommodates 16,294 seats for basketball. Therefore, an ancillary question is, would a Sun franchise in Hartford draw double the current fan base given that proximity between New York and Boston?<\/p>\n

Finally, while well-intentioned, something just doesn\u2019t sit right about a state government taking an ownership interest in a professional sports franchise, albeit a minority stake. As we see, the use of state pension funds for the deal does not have universal support. It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Here, both Republicans and the largest state employee\u2019s union (AFSCME) have gone on the record opposing the proposed investment.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s face it, the typical state official\u2013 elected or appointed, including those in the General Assembly\u2013 do not evoke a picture of a \u201csilent partner.\u201d You can almost see the following proposed bill in an upcoming session: \u201cHB 2055, An Act requiring the Connecticut Sun to change from Man-to-Man to Zone defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, Connecticut\u2019s efforts may buy a few years for the Sun to remain in state. In the end, however, such efforts are likely to go for naught. Antitrust and contractual interference accusations aside, professional sports leagues have significant control over the sale and location of their franchises. For reference, see Art Modell\u2019s Cleveland Browns, Robert Irsay\u2019s Baltimore Colts, and Donald Sterling\u2019s Los Angeles Clippers- none of which exist anymore due to actions strongly supported by their respective leagues. Like Connecticut today, the Cleveland and Baltimore situations involved significant, but futile, state, and municipal opposition.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake about it, Boston is too big a market not to have a franchise. The city is slated for one of the future rounds of expansion after 2030. With the explosion of revenue and team values it looks doubtful that both Boston and the WNBA will wait around six or seven years to cash in on what the Boston market has to offer.<\/p>\n

Jim Bellano is the former Chair of the Eastern Regional Tourism District and former Director of Economic and Community Development for the Town of Windham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As much as it pains me to say it, it may be time for the State of Connecticut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-195061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}