{"id":98962,"date":"2025-08-21T09:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T09:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/98962\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T09:03:09","slug":"steve-pagliucas-sun-bid-is-wnbas-chance-to-stand-independently-from-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/98962\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Pagliuca\u2019s Sun bid is WNBA’s chance to stand independently from NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet, the league is cool to the offer. The same goes for another $325 million bid from former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry<\/a> that would keep the team in Connecticut, shifting them from Uncasville to Hartford.<\/p>\n

The WNBA and the NBA look determined to funnel franchises to current NBA owners, in the process undermining proof that the WNBA can stand on its own as a value proposition. That restricts the league to sidecar status and allows detractors to continue to wrongly dismiss it as benefactor basketball, or, worse, the NBA\u2019s version of virtue signaling. <\/p>\n

W fans and both leagues know that\u2019s false. But the WNBA\/NBA is choosing to continue to provide fuel for that Neanderthal narrative by helicopter parenting purchases. It\u2019s a self-imposed diminishment that women\u2019s professional sports don\u2019t need as the WNBA establishes undeniable roots in the American sports consciousness 29 years into its existence. <\/p>\n

On a track to profitability and experiencing unparalleled interest, the WNBA already set a new regular-season attendance record<\/a>, breaking a mark set in 2002 (2.36 million), and could approach 3 million this season, according to Sports Business Journal.<\/p>\n

\"EvenEven though Fever guard Caitlin Clark (left) much of the season injured, WNBA attendance is on pace to break the all-time record.Nam Y. Huh\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

A former hooper at Harvard, Governor Maura Healey, remains a vocal proponent of a WNBA franchise in Boston, ASAP. The Globe learned she is brokering a potential partnership of Pagliuca and new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm to pave the way for the Sun to come to Boston. <\/p>\n

Perhaps, that will move the needle with the WNBA, but the league remains primed to stick to its pecking order for awarding franchises, which has Boston in the basement. It also keeps pointing out that Boston was not among the 12 cities that submitted bids for expansion franchises this last go-round when teams were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, all of which will be owned by the NBA owners in those cities. <\/p>\n

Those three teams will push the \u201cW\u201d to 18 franchises by 2030, when Philadelphia joins Cleveland (2028) and Detroit (2029). It will mean 10 of the 18 WNBA teams are owned by NBA owners. That doesn\u2019t count the Toronto Tempo, which will start play next season. <\/p>\n

The Tempo technically don\u2019t share ownership with the Toronto Raptors. However, their owner, Larry Tanenbaum, is the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Raptors. And, Tanenbaum is the chairman of the NBA\u2019s Board of Governors. <\/p>\n

The Portland Fire, who re-join the WNBA in 2026, are owned by siblings Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal. Their father, Raj, is the Kings principal co-owner.<\/p>\n

Sensing a theme?<\/p>\n

The WNBA is now like an empty lot in a desirable neighborhood, and the NBA is going to choose who it lets move in. It\u2019s pulling the strings. <\/p>\n

The NBA and its clubs as a collective own 42 percent of the WNBA. But it\u2019s a majority stake when you count NBA owners who participated in the WNBA\u2019s capital raise in 2002, which sold off a 16 percent stake. <\/p>\n

It makes sense and is fair that the NBA is ready to reap the fruits of its benevolence after propping up the WNBA during leaner times with little tangible return. After all, it\u2019s the WNBA, emphasis on the NBA.<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s preferred model is the symbiotic and successful relationship between the Golden State Warriors and Golden State Valkyries, a first-year WNBA expansion franchise leading the league in attendance. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s business rationale for the NBA preferring to keep it in the family. NBA owners know how to run teams. They\u2019re already accountable partners to the NBA brand.<\/p>\n

But you never sell your product short or for less than it\u2019s worth. <\/p>\n

Both Pagliuca and Lasry are willing to fork over $325 million, a record amount for controlling interest. (A minority stake sold in the New York Liberty valued that franchise higher<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t put the toothpaste back in the tube, even though, much to the NBA\u2019s ire, bylaws make it crystal clear that an NBA\/WNBA franchise can\u2019t be relocated without approval from the board of governors. <\/p>\n

This is immutable. When the Warriors moved from the Oracle Coliseum in Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco, it required NBA approval. When the Liberty were sold to Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai in 2019, the WNBA board of governors had to approve the team moving its games from White Plains, N.Y., to Brooklyn\u2019s Barclays Center.<\/p>\n

Any discussion of the bids for the Sun is moot in the NBA\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

Still, the optics of passing up $325 million bids in favor of the league pressing the Mohegan Tribe to sell the club to the WNBA for $250 million so it can turn around and flip the franchise to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta or another NBA owner for that price screams market manipulation. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the type of dubious wheeling and dealing that wouldn\u2019t pass muster in your fantasy football. <\/p>\n

The reality is the WNBA doesn\u2019t reach this inflection point without non-NBA-affiliated owners propping the league up and pushing it forward. The Sun were the first team under non-NBA owners when the Mohegan Tribe rescued the Orlando Miracle and moved them to Connecticut in 2003.<\/p>\n

From 2018 to 2023, five of the six WNBA champions enjoyed independent ownership. The 2024 crown was captured by the Liberty.<\/p>\n

For so long, apathy was the WNBA\u2019s chief enemy.<\/p>\n

But just when the league appears ready to ditch its training wheels, the NBA is telling the \u201cW\u201d it will always be the backseat of a tandem bicycle with the NBA dictating the ride.<\/p>\n

Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @cgasper<\/a> and on Instagram @cgaspersports<\/a>.<\/p>\n