Steve Pagliuca, a minority owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, reportedly reached a historic agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.
Pagliuca agreed to buy the Sun for $325 million, The Boston Globe reported.
The deal is pending, but if the Board of Governors grants final approval, the price tag would be the most expensive sale in WNBA history.
“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” a statement from the league read.
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Pagliuca plans to relocate the franchise to Boston by the 2027 season. The deal also includes promises to invest $100 million in a new training site in Boston for the team. The Sun have some familiarity with Boston, having played one regular-season game at the Celtics’ home arena each of the past two years.
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Reports of the record sale surfaced shortly after the WNBA announced major expansion plans. The league is poised to expand from 13 teams to 18 franchises by 2030. The Golden State Valkyries are in their inaugural season, while Portland and Toronto will debut teams in their respective cities in 2026.
Cleveland was awarded a franchise that will take the court in 2028, while Detroit’s expansion club will begin competing in 2029. Philadelphia’s team will start playing the following year. Each of those cities agreed to a then-record $250 million expansion fee to secure the new teams.
The Sun play at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Mohegan Tribe, the Sun’s current ownership group, also controls the casino where the team has held home games for more than two decades. The Tribe purchased the team for $10 million that year and moved the franchise from Orlando, Florida, to Connecticut.
Despite this year’s 5-21 record, the Sun have historically been one of this league’s more successful franchises on and off the court. The team is credited with 16 postseason appearances and became the first WNBA franchise to become profitable.
The $325 million sale agreement is a sharp increase from the last couple of WNBA sales. In 2021, an investment group led by Larry Gottesdiener received unanimous approval to take control of the Altanta Dream. The deal closed for reportedly less than $10 million. Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis paid an estimated $2 million for the Aces that same year.
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