{"id":361857,"date":"2025-12-21T13:13:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/361857\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T13:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:13:14","slug":"wnbas-connecticut-sun-could-move-to-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/361857\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA’s Connecticut Sun could move to Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mohegan Sun casino leadership group, which owns the Sun, had wanted to sell to Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca in August<\/a> for $325 million, and turned down a previous offer from Houston to buy the team for $250 million.<\/p>\n

After the WNBA quickly squashed Pagliuca\u2019s purchase and relocation bid, the tribe essentially took the Sun off the market. In part it was a reflection of its belief that it had no urgent need to sell. That decision also could be seen as a negotiating tactic. <\/p>\n

Apparently, Houston has begun to bridge the $75 million gap to a significant degree.<\/p>\n

A statement from the Mohegan Sun casino leadership group indicated that multiple \u201cinvestment opportunities\u201d for the team are under consideration and \u201cno agreement\u201d has been reached: <\/p>\n

\u201cMohegan leadership continues to actively explore different avenues of investment opportunities for the CT Sun. We are excited with the growth of the WNBA and women\u2019s basketball, and are taking a rigorous, diligent approach to this work. We fully understand and appreciate the value of the phenomenal women\u2019s basketball we have had the privilege to support and lead for 22 remarkable seasons. No agreement has been reached at this time, and we are not at liberty to discuss the details of any potential concepts under consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

While ownership can change hands in a market, a new owner cannot move a team without league approval. The league did not approve of Pagliuca\u2019s bid for a variety of reasons, including having Boston on a list of possible expansion sites for no earlier than 2033. <\/p>\n

The WNBA, which is co-owned by the NBA, also prefers having common ownership between NBA and WNBA teams in shared markets.<\/p>\n

The Celtics had expressed little to no interest about being an expansion destination before the Pagliuca bid. New Celtics owner Bill Chisholm, speaking at his introductory news conference in September<\/a>, said he felt \u201cBoston should have a team\u201d and that \u201cwe\u2019ll do what we can to expedite things, but there is a process there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston has long been a target of the WNBA and its commissioner, Cathy Engelbert. The Houston Comets won the league\u2019s first four titles, but folded in 2008 after the previous Rockets ownership group sold the team.<\/p>\n

The Rockets are owned by casino magnate Tilman Fertitta, who also is the US ambassador to Italy under President Trump. Fertitta put in a bid for an expansion team, but his offer was reportedly below the $250 million fee that Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Detroit put up to get teams<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At the news conference announcing the three new franchises \u2014 all set to begin play before 2030 \u2014 Engelbert said Houston was \u201cup next\u201d for getting a WNBA team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of those I wanted to shout out, because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group, is Houston,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cWe\u2019ll stay tuned on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league reportedly offered to purchase the Sun outright, which would allow it to move the team to its choice of city, but the Sun threatened to pull the team off the market.<\/a><\/p>\n

The WNBA is in the midst of a heated labor battle, with a deadline of Jan. 9 looming for the players\u2019 association and the league to reach a deal or risk a lockout. The players voted Thursday to authorize a strike<\/a> \u201cwhen necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ESPN source said that while Houston ownership had improved its offer and a formal offer had been discussed, no exclusivity agreement has been signed and no final decision has been made on where the Sun go \u2014 or if they stay.<\/p>\n

Katie McInerney of the Globe staff contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mohegan Sun casino leadership group, which owns the Sun, had wanted to sell to Celtics co-owner Steve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-361857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361857","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=361857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}