Sun could be bought by WNBA to prevent Boston move

Former Boston Celtics minority proprietor Steve Pagliuca and his consortium put their cash the place their mouth was when it got here to bringing the WNBA to Boston.

Earlier this month, Pagliuca confirmed that his group made a pitch to purchase the Connecticut Solar — with The Boston Globe reporting that Pagliuca offered $325 million to the Mohegan Tribe to purchase the team with the intention of moving the franchise to Boston.

In accordance with the Globe, the sale of the Solar to Pagliuca would additionally result in Pagliuca contributing an extra $100 million for a brand new apply facility in Brighton. 

That potential sale worth could be a file for a sale of a ladies’s sports activities franchise, and could be a welcome sight for the Mohegan Tribe as they battle debt concerns that could threaten its solvency.

Whereas Front Office Sports reported that Pagliuca bid was agreed to by the tribe in early July, Pagliuca’s personal assertion earlier this month famous that the sale was not made official. 

And based mostly on new studies, it appears to be like as if the WNBA has no intention of transferring the Solar to Boston any time quickly. 

In a brand new story by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Alexa Philippou, the Solar are persevering with to evaluate choices in an effort to attempt to “salvage” the $325 million sale of the franchise — with the group in search of “readability” from the league so far as the following steps after Pagliuca’s try to purchase the group was met with “resistance” by the WNBA. 

“A supply near the possession group says the tribe is annoyed and feels the league is presenting a one-path choice: relocation of the group to a market of its selecting at a price of its selecting,” Shelburne and Philippou wrote. “The league, in current weeks, supplied to buy the Solar for $250 million and never cost the client an extra relocation charge — which might permit the league to facilitate a sale to one in every of its most popular enlargement cities, in keeping with sources. That supply was offered earlier than Pagliuca’s bid of $325 million was reported on Aug. 2, sources stated.”

That $250 million worth supplied by the WNBA to maneuver the Solar to a market of their selecting comes effectively wanting the $325 million supplied by Pagliuca, with the ESPN report noting that the Mohegan Tribe feels as if the league has develop into “antagonistic” in regards to the sale course of after it declined an early bid that will have relocated the group to Cleveland — one of many WNBA’s most popular enlargement areas. 

The WNBA’s icy sentiment towards the Pagliuca-led sale and a doable relocation to Boston was evident shortly after studies emerged about Pagliuca’s intent to purchase the group. 

“Relocation selections are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and never by particular person groups,” the WNBA said in a statement to The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. “As a part of our most up-to-date enlargement course of, during which three new franchises have been awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, 9 extra cities additionally utilized for WNBA groups and stay beneath energetic consideration.

“No teams from Boston utilized for a group at the moment and people different cities stay into consideration based mostly on the in depth work they did as a part of the enlargement course of and at present have precedence over Boston.”

Each Shelburne and Philippou’s article expanded upon the WNBA’s reservations about transferring the Solar to Boston, past simply probably the most urgent sticking level that Boston didn’t submit an enlargement proposal. 

“The Sun played to sellout crowds at TD Garden in Boston two years in a row, with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert in attendance,” Shelburne and Philippou wrote. “Sources stated the league is worried that TD Backyard may not have the ability to host a full slate of video games due to scheduling points, which means some house video games must be performed 50 miles away on the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Windfall, Rhode Island. 

“The Pagliuca group doesn’t imagine that can be a major difficulty, sources stated.”

In accordance with Shelburne and Philippou, the WNBA would contemplate a WNBA group in Boston in one other spherical of enlargement — including that new Celtics proprietor Invoice Chisholm could be the league’s “most popular proprietor” for that franchise. 

“Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, who performed collegiately at Harvard and has been attempting to assist carry a WNBA group to Boston, has already been in communication with Chisholm, sources stated,” Shelburne and Philippou wrote.

 

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