{"id":238237,"date":"2025-10-20T09:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238237\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T09:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:19:08","slug":"connecticut-sun-belongs-in-hartford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238237\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Sun belongs in Hartford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s say the quiet part out loud: when it comes to using public funds to subsidize private sports organizations that debate should not be part of this debate of relocating the Connecticut Sun<\/a> to Hartford. It\u2019s irrelevant.<\/p>\n

For every economic study that says sports teams boost local economies, there\u2019s another claiming they don\u2019t. But here\u2019s the truth: the right sports team can transform a city\u2014not through spreadsheets or the number of beers sold post-game but through identity, energy, and visibility. Hartford knows this better than anyone. Call it \u201cThe Whalers Effect.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The Original Whalers Effect<\/p>\n

When Aetna and Howard Baldwin teamed up in 1975 to bring the Whalers to Hartford<\/a> it wasn\u2019t just because the city had an empty arena. The goal was to attract young executives and rebrand Hartford as a forward-thinking city on the rise. The corporate community saw the power of a professional sports\u2014and private investment followed, including the Hartford Courant.<\/p>\n

\"EAST<\/p>\n

STEPHEN DUNN\/Hartford Courant<\/p>\n

EAST HARTFORD-2010- There was a sea of Whalers jerseys and Whale logos everywhere you looked during the Whalers Fan Fest held at Rentschler Field on Saturday. An estimated 5,000 die-hard Hartford Whalers fans converged on the stadium to wait in line for hours to have the former Whalers players sign autographs. In photo, Tim Kiro of East Hartford, a former Whalers season ticket holder, displays a banner which he carried on the last day of the Whalers stay in Hartford in 1997. STEPHEN DUNN|sdunn@courant.com<\/p>\n

The Whalers never won a championship here, but they did something more important: they gave Hartford a major league identity.<\/p>\n

PHOTOS: Hartford Whalers alumni share laughs at CT hospital visit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For more than four decades my agency, Elkinson + Sloves, has had a front row seat to sports and arts in Hartford. We helped bring the Hartford Yard Goats to Hartford\u2014and yes, were also not part of the team that lost the Hartford Whalers. (Whalers ownership showed us the door when we disagreed with the Ron Francis trade, which was the beginning of the end of the Whalers reign here).<\/p>\n

Hartford on the Global Stage<\/p>\n

The second \u201cWhalers Effect\u201d was visibility. Each game broadcast \u2014 82 nights a year \u2014 carried Hartford\u2019s name and across the biggest media at the time including ESPN, CBS Sports, the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, and beyond.<\/p>\n

You simply couldn\u2019t buy that kind of exposure. Suddenly Hartford wasn\u2019t the forgotten city between New York and Boston \u2014 those cities came to us. World-class corporations, conferences, and events followed, including the NHL All-Star Game, Davis Cup Tennis, the World Figure Skating Championships and more. Thanks to the Whalers\u2019 iconic logo, Hartford became a global brand.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not overlook proximity. ESPN, headquartered right here in Connecticut, amplified that visibility. ESPN sports anchors were fixtures at Whalers games. Imagine that same dynamic again \u2014 ESPN personalities courtside at People\u2019s Bank Arena for Connecticut Sun games. That\u2019s good news for Hartford and the WNBA.<\/p>\n

Hartford pride and player power<\/p>\n

The third \u201cWhalers Effect\u201d was pride. Hartford wasn\u2019t a hockey town \u2014 it was a Whalers town. We were a player\u2019s town. Fans wore the Whalers\u2019 \u201cH\u201d logo as a hometown badge of honor. Even if we didn\u2019t always understand icing or offsides, we knew the players and the rivalries: Gretzky, Hull, Lemieux, Bruins, Rangers, Canadiens.<\/p>\n

The Connecticut Sun share that same player-driven magic. Despite a tough season, CT Sun attendance rose 2.4%. Today\u2019s sports icons go by different names \u2014 Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers<\/a> \u2014 but they carry the same cultural weight.<\/p>\n

\"FILEFILE – Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers dribbles up court against the Indiana Fever during the second half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez, File)<\/p>\n

And unlike the Whalers, the WNBA\u2019s players have powerful voices and massive platforms. Just listen to recent remarks from former UConn star and WNBA star Napheesa Collier<\/a>. The WNBA has already seen its athletes influence ownership and league decisions (i.e., Atlanta ownership change and more recently calling out the WNBA Commissioner \u2014 imagine that collective voice rallying behind a Hartford move. (Think Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi broadcasts.)<\/p>\n

The Economics of Smart Growth<\/p>\n

If this is about money, let\u2019s make it about money. Wouldn\u2019t it make more sense for the WNBA to collect a $250 million franchise fee from Houston than to relocate the Connecticut Sun to Houston for free?<\/p>\n

More importantly, moving the Sun to Hartford isn\u2019t truly a \u201crelocation.\u201d The league\u2019s claim that Uncasville isn\u2019t the same market as Hartford is misleading. Both are within the Hartford-New Haven Nielsen media market. Shifting the team\u2019s home court just 44 miles north would actually place it at the center of its DMA \u2014 the same market, just a better position.<\/p>\n

Smartly, the Yard Goats did the same thing \u2014 moved 12 miles into a world-class park (together with great marketing game plan), expanded their fan base, and now lead their league in attendance and Sports Organizations of The Year awards. The CT Sun could do the same, with the bonus of playing in a culturally rich capital city.<\/p>\n

Hartford Is WNBA-Ready, market-ready<\/p>\n

Hartford already checks the boxes. The city has a world-class arena, freshly renovated<\/a> at a cost of $140 million. Private investors are ready to engage again. And if more local investment is needed, \u201cPacker It\u201d \u2014 sell community ownership shares. Eight thousand community investors contributing $12,500 each equals $100 million. Where do we sign up?<\/p>\n

When the Whalers sold in 1988, their $31 million price set an NHL record. History could repeat itself \u2014 with Hartford again ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n

Like the Whalers, the Connecticut Sun<\/a> would attract media attention, tourism, and new investment. Hartford has more arts per capita than most state capitals and remains a welcoming, right-sized city for this new generation of sports heroes.<\/p>\n

The Whalers players loved living here \u2014 many stayed, raised families, and became part of the community. The Connecticut Sun can do the same. The team can sell not just Hartford, but the region \u2014 Springfield to southern Connecticut, a proven fan base from the Whalers era (more than a third of Whalers season ticket holders were from Springfield and New Haven).<\/p>\n

And yes, the WNBA can still sell a franchise to Boston investors. Because Boston is not Hartford. Hartford-Springfield market is larger than the Indianapolis Fever\u2019s market. Green Bay (the 68th media market, by the way) shows that major-league spirit isn\u2019t tied to market size. Regional rivalries drive ticket sales so again Hartford is a natural fit. Ask anyone who remembers the Whalers-Bruins nights (or should we say fights) at the Civic Center.<\/p>\n

Our George Bailey Moment<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest: since the Whalers left in 1996, Connecticut has been in a collective major league funk. We lost more than a team \u2014 we lost our major league mojo.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already lived our George Bailey moment once, watching the Whalers skate south. Can we really survive a second one?<\/p>\n

\"Gordie<\/p>\n

Courant file photo<\/p>\n

Gordie Howe controls the puck in his lone season as a member of the NHL’s Hartford Whalers in this Courant file photo.<\/p>\n

Today, the WNBA is at a crossroads. To capitalize off its skyrocketing popularity WNBA leadership is working out the playbook to consistent growth and profitability in real-time. Connecticut, the laboratory for women\u2019s basketball for three decades, deserves to be part of this playbook.<\/p>\n

So, can the Whalers Effect play out, again? Yes!<\/p>\n

Fifty years after the Whalers came to Hartford, the ball \u2014 and the opportunity \u2014 is again in our court.<\/p>\n

Jay Sloves is founding Partner of the marketing firm Elkinson + Sloves Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s say the quiet part out loud: when it comes to using public funds to subsidize private sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3691,8731,131711,1760,131710,2000,4384,49683,131720,14824,101,8856,15862,131713,131709,6755,2005,131719,131714,131718,2833,131716,71429,131715,99,61391,1608,131717,131721,2427,131712,82136,434],"class_list":["post-238237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-angel-reese","tag-boston","tag-bradley-international-airport","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-civic-center","tag-connecticut","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-ct","tag-davis-cup-tennis","tag-diana-taurasi","tag-economy","tag-hartford","tag-hartford-courant","tag-hartford-whaler-boosters-club","tag-hartford-whalers","tag-hockey","tag-new-york","tag-nhl-all-star-game","tag-norm-barnes","tag-or-the-captain-ron-francis","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-pierre-larouche","tag-professional-sports","tag-risto","tag-sports","tag-sue-bird","tag-sun","tag-the-cat","tag-the-world-figure-skating-championships","tag-travel","tag-whaler-apparel","tag-whalers","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238237","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=238237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}