{"id":472903,"date":"2026-02-17T01:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472903\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T01:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:20:24","slug":"ct-government-steadfast-in-fight-to-keep-wnba-team-in-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472903\/","title":{"rendered":"CT government steadfast in fight to keep WNBA team in state"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz<\/a> learned the impact that playing sports can have firsthand as a young girl, growing up competing in everything from baseball to tennis to swimming.<\/p>\n

Those experiences helped foster lifelong confidence and leadership skills in Bysiewicz, so she understands exactly how important sports can be in developing the next generation of female leaders. It\u2019s also why she\u2019s fighting in conjunction with Gov. Ned Lamont<\/a> to keep the Connecticut Sun<\/a> in the state.<\/p>\n

The Mohegan Tribe, which has owned the Sun since 2003, spent months exploring a potential sale of the team and currently has two offers on the table \u2014 one from a group in Boston led by former Celtics minority governor Steve Pagliuca and another from a Hartford-based group led by former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry. But the WNBA has reportedly told the Tribe its Board of Governors would not approve a move<\/a> to either Boston or Hartford, leaving the future of the franchise in limbo.<\/p>\n

Lamont has vocally supported keeping the team in Connecticut since it was first reported in May that the team was for sale, and Bysiewicz said that effort is ongoing with the process currently at a standstill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been having advocacy conversations to keep them in Connecticut, because we feel very strongly that Connecticut is the college basketball capital of the world, so having the Sun here expands our basketball legacy,\u201d Bysiewicz said Tuesday. \u201cWe want to keep them here because I think it just makes our state so much more fun and vibrant. We know also that the team is an economic driver, and so we\u2019d like to keep them here and see them continue to grow audiences and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lt.Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz introduces Gov. Ned Lamont before the State of the State address to the General Assembly at the Connecticut State Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2025 during the annual (Aaron Flaum\/Hartford Courant)<\/p>\n

For 23 years the Sun have been a fixture, not just for sports fans, but also for members of the community in southeastern Connecticut. In 2024, the Sun raised nearly $170,000<\/a> for local organizations through its foundation, and it holds annual back-to-school shopping events to help provide backpacks, supplies and clothes at the start of the academic year for families in need. The team also hosts regular free clinics around the region through its Sun Academy<\/a> program to introduce young athletes to basketball and give them an opportunity to learn from professional players and staff members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re truly role models for people, for our girls and our young women,\u201d Bysiewicz said. \u201cI have heard from constituents as I\u2019m traveling around the state that they love the Sun, they love going to the games, and they\u2019re hoping that we can keep them here, and I know the governor feels the same. He\u2019s continuing to do what he can as well to advocate for keeping them here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartford bid to purchase Connecticut Sun undeterred by reported lack of support from WNBA<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Bysiewicz was born in New Haven and was serving as the Secretary of State under former governor John Rowland when the Mohegan Tribe brought the Sun to the state from Orlando back in 2003. The owners of the NBA\u2019s Orlando Magic would have folded the franchise had the tribe not stepped in to purchase the team, then known as the Orlando Miracle, and Bysiewicz remembers a public skepticism around whether the team could succeed in Uncasville.<\/p>\n

But the Sun have thrived since arriving in Connecticut, in part because the success of the UConn women\u2019s basketball program helped create a deep-rooted culture of passion for the sport. The Huskies won their third national championship the year before the Sun arrived, then added two more in the WNBA franchises\u2019 first two years in the state. The Sun have also featured a slew of UConn players over more than two decades in Connecticut:\u00a0 Of the 49 former Huskies alumni who have played in the WNBA, 19 have returned to play for the Sun at some point during their careers, and the 2025 roster includes four UConn alumni.<\/p>\n

That foundational fanbase has grown exponentially over the years, and the Sun are averaging their highest-ever annual attendance in 2025 with 8,720 fans per game up from 8,450 in 2024. The team sold out of season tickets this season for the first time in franchise history, and it also filled more than 19,000 seats for the second straight year when it played a one-off game at Boston\u2019s TD Garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe games are so much fun,\u201d Bysiewicz said. \u201cThe Governor and I have been to games together, and we love highlighting them, and so we want to make sure that the people of Connecticut and beyond continue to be able to enjoy the team, because we know they have lots of folks who come from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and our surrounding states to come and and watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support for Connecticut\u2019s last remaining major professional sports team has continued to grow within state and local government throughout the sale process. Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam<\/a> has been a strong advocate for Hartford\u2019s bid<\/a> to purchase the team, and State Comptroller Sean Scanlon put out a statement Wednesday criticizing the WNBA\u2019s handling of the team\u2019s potential relocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the CFO of the state, I know that keeping this franchise here in Connecticut isn\u2019t just good for fans of the team in the basketball capital of the world. It\u2019s good for our state and the city of Hartford in particular,\u201d Scanlon said in a video posted to his official X account<\/a>. \u201cThe WNBA and powerful corporate outside interests are blocking this deal, and they\u2019re trying to steal the team from Connecticut against the will of the owners of the team, against the fanbase of Connecticut. The message is to the WNBA and the NBA that controls the WNBA, don\u2019t take our team away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could Connecticut Sun sale debacle end in a lawsuit with WNBA? It\u2019s possible, but not likely<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz learned the impact that playing sports can have firsthand as a young girl,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2000,4384,15861,219312,15862,983,63868,28017,69796,219310,99,219311,219309,31478,31477,434,2088],"class_list":{"0":"post-472903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-connecticut","9":"tag-connecticut-sun","10":"tag-ct-news","11":"tag-governors-prevention-program","12":"tag-hartford-courant","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-mohegan-sun","15":"tag-mohegan-tribe","16":"tag-ned-lamont","17":"tag-sean-scanlon","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-sun-academy","20":"tag-susan-bysiewicz","21":"tag-uconn-huskies","22":"tag-uconn-womens-basketball","23":"tag-wnba","24":"tag-womens-basketball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472903","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=472903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}