WNBA to Boston on horizon? Pagliuca reportedly reaches deal to buy Sun

Celtics

If approved by the league, Pagliuca’s group reportedly plans to move the Sun to Boston by 2027.

By Conor Roche

August 2, 2025 | 2:05 PM

2 minutes to read

The Connecticut Sun might be calling Boston home soon.

Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has agreed to a deal to purchase the Connecticut Sun from the Mohegan Tribe and plans to move the franchise to Boston by 2027, The Boston Globe‘s Gary Washburn reported Saturday.

The purchase, which is pending league approval, is worth $325 million, while the Pagliuca-led group plans to put down another $100 million to build a practice facility in Boston, Washburn added in his report. TD Garden would reportedly be the team’s primary home arena, while games could be played in Providence to avoid conflicts with the Bruins and Celtics.

Boston has successfully hosted two Sun games over the last two WNBA seasons, with the TD Garden selling out each game. Still, there was some skepticism over whether Boston would get a WNBA team in the near future. It didn’t make it bid for the recent round of expansion, with five more teams joining the league in the near future.

It also didn’t appear that a relocation of the Sun to Boston was in the works, either, even though the Mohegan Tribe was looking to sell the franchise. A spokesperson for Boston Women’s Basketball Partners, a group formed in 2025 to try and help Boston land a WNBA franchise, told Washburn in July that the Mohegan Tribe was looking for a buyer that would keep the Sun in Connecticut.

However, Pagliuca, who wasn’t a part of Boston Women’s Basketball Partners, wound up making an offer that would be the highest ever for a WNBA franchise. The WNBA had hoped for Boston to get a franchise via expansion in 2033 rather than getting one through relocation, according to Washburn.

“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” the WNBA told Washburn about Saturday’s report. “As part of our most recent expansion process, in which three new franchises were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration.

“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 owner Bill Chisholm has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”

The Sun are in the midst of a lousy season, holding a league-worst 5-21 record as of Saturday. There had also been long-term questions over how viable it was for them to keep playing in Uncasville, Connecticut, as they play their home games at Mohegan Sun.

Prior to their stumbles in 2025, though, the Sun had been one of the top franchises in the league. They had an eight-year playoff appearance streak entering the season, reaching the WNBA Finals twice in that span. They’ve reached the WNBA Finals four times, but have yet to win a title.

The franchise actually began in Orlando, being added as an expansion team in 1999. The Mohegan Tribe bought the franchise from the Orlando Magic ahead of the 2003 season, relocating them to Connecticut right after.