Connecticut Sun president reacts to Boston relocation report

Only a day after a report from The Boston Globe mentioned that Celtics minority proprietor Steve Pagliuca had agreed to a deal to buy the Connecticut Solar with the intention of transferring the WNBA franchise to Boston by 2027, Connecticut Solar president Jennifer Rizzotti supplied some further context in regards to the staff’s future. 

Talking to reporters on Sunday forward of the Solar’s recreation towards the New York Liberty, Rizzotti mentioned that the Mohegan Tribe — who at present personal the Solar — haven’t formally offered the franchise to Pagliuca or some other group. 

“Opposite to a few of the articles that have been out yesterday, the staff has not been offered …  Until it comes out of official Connecticut Solar or Mohegan Solar channels, it’s not official,” Rizzotti told MassLive’s Kenneth Manoj. 

“Any sale or relocation is topic to board approval, so it’s like non-disclosure settlement comes into play, so we’re not allowed to really speak about particular teams that we might have been speaking to. However I can say that I’ve met personally with totally different funding teams over the previous couple of months, and it’s been a radical course of and we’re not fairly on the end line but.”

Discourse over the Solar’s future has been a well-liked subject in Boston over the previous couple of years, particularly with TD Backyard showcasing sell-out crowds throughout WNBA video games in each 2024 and 2025. 

“If it was as much as me, we’d relocate right here,” Connecticut rookie guard Saniya Rivers told The Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan earlier than the Solar’s recreation towards Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on July 15. “[Boston is] an ideal metropolis, has nice meals, nice retailers — I really like to buy. So simply having the ability to come to the neighboring metropolis and simply play right here, I feel it [does] rather a lot for ladies’s basketball on the whole, , get some noise round right here [and] get individuals supporting ladies’s basketball.

“Hopefully, possibly they will advocate for us to, , possibly even relocate. I really like Connecticut, it’s effective, however I feel the advertising right here itself is simply going to be higher for a ladies’s basketball program and I feel we are able to make loads of noise right here beginning tonight, so I’m simply excited to be part of it.”

Rizzotti acknowledged that Boston can be a viable marketplace for a WNBA franchise in some unspecified time in the future transferring ahead.

“I can’t communicate to the place the staff’s going to go, but when Boston was an choice, it’s laborious to argue that they’re not a metropolis that’s viable for a WNBA franchise,” Rizzotti mentioned. “In case you’re 22, popping out of school and also you’re contemplating your model and contemplating your alternatives in a significant market, I don’t assume it’s a slight on taking part in at Mohegan or in Connecticut.

“However I’m positive there’s a desire that they need to be in a market that’s greater they usually’d have the ability to make the most of the alternatives introduced to them. However once more, it’s not the Connecticut Solar’s resolution on relocation. That’s a board of governor’s vote, so the one factor that the Mohegan Tribe can do is promote the staff.”

Even with the Globe’s report in regards to the Solar’s potential transfer to Boston, the WNBA did notice in an official assertion that particular person groups do not need a say in relocation choices. 

“Relocation choices are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and never by particular person groups,” the WNBA advised the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn about Saturday’s report. “As a part of our most up-to-date growth course of, wherein three new franchises have been awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, 9 further cities additionally utilized for WNBA groups and stay beneath energetic consideration.

“No teams from Boston utilized for a staff at the moment and people different cities stay into consideration primarily based on the in depth work they did as a part of the growth course of and at present have precedence over Boston.  Celtics’ potential proprietor Invoice Chisholm has additionally reached out to the league workplace and requested that Boston obtain sturdy consideration for a WNBA franchise on the applicable time.”

In line with Washburn’s report, the acquisition of the Solar is value $325 million, whereas the Pagliuca-led consortium additionally plans to allocate one other $100 million to construct a observe facility in Boston. TD Backyard can be the staff’s main house area, whereas video games may very well be performed in Windfall to keep away from scheduling points with the Bruins and Celtics.

Even when information of a sale or relocation have been made official, Rizzotti acknowledged that the way forward for the franchise in Connecticut has been murky for months because the Mohegan Tribe weighed a sale of the staff.  

“I hope [as a fanbase] we are able to simply stick collectively, no matter what the result is thru all of this, that [there’s] appreciation for what our house owners try to do. They’re making an attempt to do what’s proper by our gamers, they’re making an attempt to have an understanding and the foresight to know that the league is in a spot the place a 17,000-20,000 seat area might be a typical for the long run.” Rizzotti mentioned. “$100 million greenback observe services and a location ― I imply, you’re speaking to me, being on the coast of Connecticut within the summertime appears fairly good. 

“However in case you’re speaking to a 22 12 months outdated, they need entry to reveals, alternatives and sporting occasions in ways in which possibly Uncasville can’t put together them for. However what I’ll say is people who have performed right here, those I’ve talked to over years and years, even after I was taking part in within the WNBA, they’ve at all times appreciated how they obtained handled right here and that I need to at all times be a part of the legacy of this possession group, no matter what occurs.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author overlaying the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.