\u201cFrom Undervalued to Unstoppable: The Rise of Women\u2019s Sports as a Prime Investment Asset,\u201d was the headline of a story saying women\u2019s sports are attractive for their lower entry price and high ceiling for growth in value.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP23273025302065-771x514.jpg\")
Connecticut Sun guard Tiffany Hayes (15) dives for the ball against New York Liberty forward Betnijah Laney (44) during the first half of Game 3 of a WNBA basketball semifinal playoff series Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Uncasville, Conn. Credit: Jessica Hill \/ AP<\/p>\n
House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, and Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, criticized Lamont for endorsing what Candelora called \u201ca very high-risk investment with our pension market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general, investing in a sports team is a very risky proposition,\u201d Candelora said, adding that Connecticut, situated between larger media markets in New York and Boston, has a checkered past when it comes to enticing top-level sports franchises to relocate or remain here.<\/p>\n
Nuccio praised Russell\u2019s pension performance but argued that the pension investment should go to safer places.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have a massive amount of pension debt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Flirtations with the New England Patriots ended poorly, and the NHL\u2019s Hartford Whalers decamped for North Carolina in 1997 after a quarter-century in Hartford.<\/p>\n
But Lamont and Russell said the value of the investment in Connecticut Sun is tied to the steady appreciation of equity positions in franchise ownerships, regardless of their balance sheet or whether they ultimately relocate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got private investors in alongside of us. In fact, junior to us. They like the nature of this investment. They think it\u2019s a really good, solid, long term return for him and for our investors,\u201d Lamont said.<\/p>\n
Lamont acknowledged, however, the state\u2019s interest was motivated by a desire to keep the team in Connecticut, either at the Mohegan Sun or the recently renamed PeoplesBank Arena in downtown Hartford. Formerly known as the XL Center, it is undergoing renovations.<\/p>\n
The WNBA would have to approve a move to Hartford, but the state and Mohegan tribe have discussed keeping the team at Mohegan Sun, with a portion of the games played in Hartford. Whoever owns the team faces a significant capital cost: The construction of a practice facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to keep the Sun in Connecticut,\u201d Lamont said. Noting the role UConn played in the popularization of the women\u2019s college game, he said, \u201cI think they belong in Connecticut, which is a birthplace of women\u2019s basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
A group led by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, a billionaire who grew up in West Hartford, has made an offer for the team with the intent of keeping it in Connecticut. A Boston group previously made a bid with hopes of relocating it to Boston.<\/p>\n
The WNBA, which sees Boston as a future expansion city, reacted cooly to a possible transfer of the Connecticut Sun. Sources say an expansion team in Boston would yield the league a $250 million expansion fee, while a transfer fee was much lower.<\/p>\n
The Mohegan tribe is not committed to a sale. Sources say its current negotiating posture is a sale, taking on an equity partner, or retaining a minority equity position while selling a majority interest.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Lamont said the state\u2019s approach is flexible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a proposal out where we would buy the team. We have a proposal out where we buy a portion of the team and leave Mohegan Sun in there [as a partner]. So it depends on where the negotiations go, but we\u2019re still in the game,\u201d Lamont said.<\/p>\n
If the state invests, it would insist on being the senior partner, meaning its share would be paid off first in any sale, Lamont said.<\/p>\n
Russell said he is not directly involved in negotiations; his role would be to structure any investment to protect the pension fund. He currently has $63 billion in pension assets under the management of his office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we would be looking at is something, if this is where we landed, that would be in the benefit of pensioners,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThat is my priority as treasurer, as you see from the returns that we have demonstrated over the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
CT Mirror reporter Keith M. Phaneuf contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday endorsed the potential state purchase of a share of the WNBA\u2019s Connecticut Sun…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[22425,99,2443,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-394627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-feature-story","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-top-story","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394627","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=394627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}