\u00ab\u00a0Unless it comes out of official Connecticut Sun or Mohegan Sun channels, it\u2019s not official.\u00a0\u00bb<\/b>
\n\u00ab\u00a0Unless it comes out of official Connecticut Sun or Mohegan Sun channels, it\u2019s not official.\u00a0\u00bb
Just a day after a report from said that Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca had agreed to a deal to purchase the Connecticut Sun with the intention of moving the WNBA franchise to Boston by 2027, Connecticut Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti offered some additional context about the team\u2019s future.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday ahead of the Sun\u2019s game against the New York Liberty, Rizzotti said that the Mohegan Tribe \u2014 who currently own the Sun \u2014 have not officially sold the franchise to Pagliuca or any other group.
\u201cContrary to some of the articles that were out yesterday, the team has not been sold \u2026 Unless it comes out of official Connecticut Sun or Mohegan Sun channels, it\u2019s not official,\u201d Rizzotti told MassLive\u2019s Kenneth Manoj.
\u201cAny sale or relocation is subject to board approval, so it\u2019s like non-disclosure agreement comes into play, so we\u2019re not allowed to actually talk about specific groups that we may have been talking to. But I can say that I have met personally with different investment groups over the last few months, and it\u2019s been a thorough process and we\u2019re not quite at the finish line yet.\u201d
Discourse over the Sun\u2019s future has been a popular topic in Boston over the last few years, especially with TD Garden showcasing sell-out crowds during WNBA games in both 2024 and 2025.
\u201cIf it was up to me, we might relocate here,\u201d Connecticut rookie guard Saniya Rivers told \u2019s Tara Sullivan before the Sun\u2019s game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on July 15. \u201c[Boston is] a great city, has great food, great shops \u2014 I love to shop. So just being able to come to the neighboring city and just play here, I think it [does] a lot for women\u2019s basketball in general, you know, get some noise around here [and] get people supporting women\u2019s basketball.
\u201cHopefully, maybe they can advocate for us to, you know, maybe even relocate. I love Connecticut, it\u2019s fine, but I think the marketing here itself is just going to be better for a women\u2019s basketball program and I think we can make a lot of noise here starting tonight, so I\u2019m just excited to be a part of it.\u201d
Rizzotti acknowledged that Boston would be a viable market for a WNBA franchise at some point moving forward.
\u201cI can\u2019t speak to where the team\u2019s going to go, but if Boston was an option, it\u2019s hard to argue that they\u2019re not a city that\u2019s viable for a WNBA franchise,\u201d Rizzotti said. \u201cIf you\u2019re 22, coming out of college and you\u2019re considering your brand and considering your opportunities in a major market, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a slight on playing at Mohegan or in Connecticut.
\u201cBut I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a preference that they want to be in a market that\u2019s bigger and they\u2019d be able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. But again, it\u2019s not the Connecticut Sun\u2019s decision on relocation. That\u2019s a board of governor\u2019s vote, so the only thing that the Mohegan Tribe can do is sell the team.\u201d
Even with the Globe\u2019s report about the Sun\u2019s potential move to Boston, the WNBA did note in an official statement that individual teams do not have a say in relocation decisions.
\u201cRelocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,\u201d the WNBA told the Boston Globe\u2019s Gary Washburn about Saturday\u2019s report. \u201cAs 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.
\u201cNo 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\u2019 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.\u201d
According to Washburn\u2019s report, the purchase of the Sun is worth $325 million, while the Pagliuca-led consortium also plans to allocate another $100 million to build a practice facility in Boston. TD Garden would be the team\u2019s primary home arena, while games could be played in Providence to avoid scheduling issues with the Bruins and Celtics.
Even if news of a sale or relocation have been made official, Rizzotti acknowledged that the future of the franchise in Connecticut has been murky for months as the Mohegan Tribe weighed a sale of the team.
\u201cI hope [as a fanbase] we can just stick together, regardless of what the outcome is through all of this, that [there\u2019s] appreciation for what our owners are trying to do. They\u2019re trying to do what\u2019s right by our players, they\u2019re trying to have an understanding and the foresight to know that the league is in a place where a 17,000-20,000 seat arena is probably a standard for the future.\u201d Rizzotti said. \u201c$100 million dollar practice facilities and a location \u2015 I mean, you\u2019re talking to me, being on the coast of Connecticut in the summertime seems pretty good.
\u201cBut if you\u2019re talking to a 22 year old, they want access to shows, opportunities and sporting events in ways that maybe Uncasville can\u2019t prepare them for. But what I will say is those that have played here, the ones I\u2019ve talked to over years and years, even when I was playing in the WNBA, they have always appreciated how they got treated here and that I want to always be part of the legacy of this ownership group, regardless of what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n