By DOUG FEINBERG
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — A group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has reached a deal to buy the Connecticut Sun for a record $325 million and move the team to Boston, according to a person familiar with the sale.
The franchise wouldn’t play in Boston until the 2027 season. Pagliuca also would contribute $100 million for a new practice facility in Boston for the team, the person said.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because the deal hasn’t been publicly announced. The sale is pending approval of the league and its Board of Governors.
“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” the league said in a statement.
The Sun have played one regular season game at TD Garden eac of the last two years, including one against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in July.
The league has announced five expansion teams that will begin play over the next five seasons with Portland (2026), Toronto (2026), Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) joining the WNBA. Each paid a then-record $250 million expansion fee.
Nine other cities bid for expansion teams, including Houston, which the league singled out as getting a team in the future when it announced Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia in June. Boston did not.
“No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston. Celtics’ prospective ownership team has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”
The Boston Globe first reported the sale.
The Sun are owned by the Mohegan Tribe, which runs the casino where the team has played since 2003. The Tribe bought the franchise for $10 million and relocated it from Orlando that year. The Connecticut franchise was the first in the league to be run by a non-NBA owner and also became the first to turn a profit.
The team announced in May that it was searching for a potential buyer for the franchise and had hired investment bank Allen & Company to conduct the probe.
The WNBA has experienced rapid growth the last few seasons and ownership groups have been investing more into their teams, including player experiences. That has come in the way of practice facilities. The Sun are one of the few teams in the league that haven’t announced any plans for a new training facility.
Connecticut practices either at the arena in the casino or a local community center.
Despite the lack of facilities, the Sun have been one of the most successful teams in the league, making the postseason in 16 seasons, including a run of six straight semifinal appearances. But the team was hit hard this offseason with the entire starting five from last season leaving either via free agency or trade.
Connecticut is currently in last place in the WNBA at 5-21. The team sent out a letter to season ticket holders last week saying they’d still be playing at 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 the Atlanta Dream for under $10 million. A year earlier, Mark Davis paid roughly $2 million for the Las Vegas Aces.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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