Celtics co-owner set to buy WNBA’s Connecticut Sun for record $325m | Connecticut Sun
A group led by the owner of the Celtics minority, Steve Pagliuca, concluded an agreement to buy Connecticut Sun for a record of $ 325 million and move the team to Boston, according to a person familiar with the sale.
The franchise would not play in Boston before the 2027 season. Pagliuca would also contribute $ 100 million for a new Boston training center for the team, the person said.
The person spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because the agreement was not announced publicly. The sale is awaiting approval of the League and its council of governors.
“Resettlement decisions are made by the WNBA Council of Governors and not by individual teams,” the League said in a statement.
The Sun has played a regular season game at TD Garden Eac for the past two years, including one against Caitlin Clark and Indiana fever in July.
The League has announced five expansion teams that will start playing in the next five seasons with Portland (2026), Toronto (2026), Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) joining the WNBA. Everyone paid extension costs of $ 250 million at the time.
Nine other cities bid for expansion teams, including Houston, which the League has chosen as a team in the future when it announced Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia in June. Boston did not do it.
“No group of Boston has asked for a team at that time and the other cities remain under study according to the in-depth work they have done as part of the expansion process and are currently priority in Boston. The potential Celtics property team also contacted the League office and asked that Boston receives a high consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time. “
The Boston Globe reported the sale for the first time.
The sun belongs to the Mohegan tribe, which manages the casino where the team has played since 2003. The tribe bought the franchise for 10 million dollars and moved it to Orlando that year. The Connecticut franchise was the first of the league to be managed by a nonba owner and also became the first to make a profit.
The team announced in May that it was looking for a potential buyer for the franchise and hired the Allen & Company investment bank to conduct the investigation.
The WNBA has experienced rapid growth in recent seasons and ownership groups have invested more in their teams, including players’ experiences. This came to practice facilities. The sun is one of the few League teams who have not announced any plan for a new training center.
Connecticut trains at the casino arena or in a local community center.
Despite the lack of installations, the sun was one of the most prosperous teams in the league, doing the after-season in 16 seasons, including a series of six consecutive appearances in the semi-finals. But the team was hardly struck this offseason with all the five departure of last season by leaving via the free agency or the trade.
Connecticut is currently in the last place of the WNBA at 5-21. The team sent a letter to season ticket holders last week by saying that they would still play the casino next year.
The last team to be sold in the WNBA was in 2021 when real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener led a group that bought Atlanta’s dream for less than $ 10 million. A year earlier, Mark Davis paid around $ 2 million for Las Vegas Aces.
