A Boston-based group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has reached a record deal valued at $325 million to buy the Connecticut Sun from the Mohegan Tribe and move the team to Boston by 2027, a league source confirmed to Front Office Sports.
The news was first reported by The Boston Globe.
The Globe also reported that the deal includes a future $100 million commitment for a practice facility.
Though Pagliuca plans to move the team to Boston, the league office said no such move had been approved yet.
“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” a league spokesperson told FOS in a statement.
“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 statement said.
Pagliuca and Chisholm both bid for the Celtics when the team was up for sale, with Paglicua criticizing the financing of Chisholm’s bid when he won out.
The Sun hired investment bank Allen and Company to search for a potential buyer earlier this year. In July, the Sun sent out an email to season ticket holders pledging to remain at Mohegan Sun for the 2026 season.
The sale, pending approval by the WNBA’s board of governors, could land the team in Boston by 2027, sooner than some of the WNBA’s planned expansion teams will launch.
The group’s efforts to purchase the Sun instead of waiting for the next round of expansion could speed up the process of bringing the WNBA to Boston.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
