Celtics Minority Owner To Buy Connecticut Sun For $325 Million, Wants To Move Team To Boston
Steve Pagliuca has also reportedly pledged $100 million toward a world-class practice facility.
A group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca has reportedly reached a deal to buy the Connecticut Sun for a record $325 million with plans to move the team to Boston. But the WNBA says not so fast.
The sale is pending approval from the league and its board of governors. It seems a potential move to Boston is giving them pause.
"Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams," the league said 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 minority owner Steve Pagliuca wants to put a WNBA team in Boston.
(Getty Images)
Five expansion teams will begin play over the next five seasons: Portland (2026), Toronto (2026), Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030). The latter three each paid a then-record $250 million expansion fee to join the WNBA.
Still, both Pagliuca and Celtics' prospective owner Bill Chisholm want the Connecticut Sun in Boston. So much so that Pagliuca has already pledged $100 million toward a new "world-class" practice facility, which would be a massive improvement over the facilities the Sun are working with now.
"I’ve been told the Sun feel that a move to Boston is what would be great for their players," NBC Sports Boston’s Trenni Casey reported. "This would be a great opportunity for them to play in the TD Garden, to play in a huge market, to have the best of the best, which is what the WNBA players have been fighting for."
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The team was purchased for $10 million by the Mohegan Tribe in 2003, relocating the franchise from Orlando to Uncassville, Conn. The Sun were the first in the league to be run by a non-NBA owner and also became the first to turn a profit.
The Sun's facilities are severely lacking compared to most other WNBA teams.
(Photo by Joseph Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
But with the rapidly rising popularity of the WNBA, the Sun are now having trouble keeping up with the rest of the league. While other teams are investing in their players through more amenities and state-of-the-art facilities, the Sun are still holding practices in the casino arena and at a local community center. In fact, when the WNBA team isn't practicing, the site moonlights as a venue for yoga classes and birthday parties, according to CT Insider.
Still, though, the Sun have consistently been one of the most successful teams in the WNBA — making the postseason in 16 of their 22 seasons, including six-straight semifinal appearances between 2019 and 2024. This season, though, Connecticut is struggling and currently sits in last place in the WNBA at 5-21.
If the sale and the relocation are approved, the move would not happen until the 2027 season.