{"id":269003,"date":"2025-11-03T15:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/269003\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T15:01:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:01:20","slug":"wnbas-connecticut-sun-hire-allen-company-to-explore-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/269003\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA\u2019s Connecticut Sun Hire Allen & Company to Explore Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe owners of the WNBA<\/a>\u2019s Connecticut Sun<\/a> hired investment bank Allen & Company to explore the sale of the franchise, according to multiple people familiar with the details. Mohegan Sun, a subsidiary of Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, has owned the club since 2003.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sun could raise capital through an LP stake sale, but the expectation is a control sale and likely franchise relocation. There are multiple potential built-in buyers via the 10-plus groups who submitted bids during the current WNBA expansion process, which is also being run by Allen.<\/p>\n

\n\tAllen & Company declined to comment, while the Sun did not immediately respond to request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move arrives as WNBA franchise values have exploded. The Golden State Warriors and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum were each awarded an expansion franchise for $50 million in 2023 and 2024. The latest round of W expansion is expected to fetch more than $200 million per franchise.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last WNBA control sale was in 2021 when the Atlanta Dream were purchased for between $7 million and $10 million by a group led by real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs team values soared, the cost of running a WNBA franchise has also jumped. The Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces opened state-of-the-art training facilities. The Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever announced plans to build their own facilities. The recent expansion teams will all have their own practice facilities, and the expectation is that every WNBA team will need a dedicated practice facility within the next three years.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeculation has swirled around whether Mohegan Sun wanted to keep up with the current WNBA arms race, with gaming, concerts and hospitality the primary businesses at the casino resort. The Sun play in the WNBA\u2019s smallest media market and host home games in 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn LP stake sale could help fund the construction of a new practice facility, a tactic the Storm used for their $64 million building. Connecticut\u2019s current practice set-up has drawn criticism from Sun players. The Mohegan tribe has priority at the venue, and community events have left Sun with half a court to practice in cases.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2003, the Native American tribe became the first non-NBA owner in WNBA history when the former Orlando Miracle relocated to the then-new $40 million\u00a0Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The tribe paid $10 million as an expansion fee. Last year, the Sun were valued at $80 million, per Sportico\u2019s WNBA valuations<\/a>, which was tied for ninth in the WNBA. Franchise values have jumped considerably since then.<\/p>\n

\n\tMohegan Tribal Gaming Authority recently faced a potential debt crunch, but last month, it completed a comprehensive refinancing of nearly all its restricted debt. It pushed back $1.5 billion in debt due in 2026 and 2027 to 2030 and 2031.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sun reached the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs last season, which marked the sixth straight season they made it at least that far, but their entire starting lineup exited via trade or free agency<\/a> ahead of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, the WNBA had explosive growth for revenue, attendance, sponsorships and viewership. But it now faces a challenge after the players union\u00a0decided to opt out of the current CBA<\/a>\u00a0back in October.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe WNBA regular season tips off Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith assistance from Scott Soshnick<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owners of the WNBA\u2019s Connecticut Sun hired investment bank Allen & Company to explore the sale of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[144269,4384,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-269003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-allen-co","9":"tag-connecticut-sun","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269003","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=269003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}