Celtics minority owner reaches deal to buy WNBA's Connecticut Sun, move team to Boston

USA Today

3 days ago

Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has reached a deal to buy the WNBA's Connecticut Sun and move the team to Boston, reports the Boston Globe.
Pagliuca and his group will pay $325 million for the team, a record-setting purchase for a WNBA franchise, with plans to relocate the team from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. According to the report, Pagliuca will also contribute $100 million for a new practice facility. The team plan to play its home games at TD Garden, home to the Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins, and hopes to as soon as the 2027 season.
Any sale of a WNBA franchise needs to be approved by the league and the governors of each team. The league has been expanding in the past few years, with the Golden State Valykries beginning play this year. The Toronto Tempo will begin play in the 2026 season, with expansion to 18 teams by 2030, with franchises coming to Portland, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. There have been reports that the WNBA wants to wait until 2033 to potentially seek Boston as an expansion city for a new team.
The Sun has been in Connecticut since 2003, relocating from Orlando as the franchise began as the Miracle in 1999.
'I know the quickest way to get a team to Boston is for the Sun to move to Boston,' Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told the Boston Globe. 'And I don't want to wait [until 2033]. I don't want Boston or New England to have to wait that long. We've got an incredibly enthusiastic, energized base here that wants to see a 'W' team in Boston and to me this seems to be in everybody's best interests.'
Mohegan Sun Arena, located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort, seats 10,000 for basketball. In the past two seasons, the Sun played a regular season game apiece at Boston TD Garden, both to sell-out crowds. The Garden has a capacity of 19,000 for basketball.
Connecticut went to the WNBA Finals is 2019 and 2022 and have been to the playoffs the past eight season. This season, the Sun have the WNBA's worst record at 5-21.