Rumors

The Sun’s leadership presented the offer, a $325 million bid from financier Steve Pagliuca, to the WNBA executives, including commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Pagliuca had been a Boston Celtics minority owner for more than two decades — he’ll retain his shares for three years after the Celtics sale closed this month — and had gained an exclusive negotiating window. The tribe and Pagliuca had discussions about how long the team would stay at the Mohegan Sun Arena, but ultimately, the goal was to move to Boston and build a practice facility. The offer did not sit well with the WNBA. While the rest of the meeting between Sun and league executives was placid, a WNBA executive later called Allen & Company, the investment bank running the sale for the Sun, and expressed unhappiness, saying that the Pagliuca deal was an unapproved attempt at relocation. (Allen & Company declined comment for this article.) There has been little contact between the league and franchise leaders since then. Engelbert did not present the sale to the rest of the league’s board of governors for approval, multiple sources familiar with the conversation said, striking what could have been a league-high franchise fee with a pocket veto. They and others were granted anonymity so they could speak freely. Front Office Sports was the first to report the agreement and that the WNBA ignored it.

New York Times

Marc J. Spears: Statement from Steve Pagliuca on the Closing of the Celtics Transaction. pic.x.com/VbJiTKHw30

Twitter

The Connecticut Sun ownership intends to present multiple options to the WNBA as it looks to salvage what would have been a record-breaking $325 million franchise sale, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN. The Mohegan tribe, which has owned the franchise since buying and relocating the Orlando Miracle in 2003, is seeking clarity on the league's desired path forward for the organization, sources said, after an agreement to sell the team to a group led by former Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca was met with resistance from the league office. After news broke of the deal's existence -- and Pagliuca's eventual plan to relocate the franchise to Boston -- a league statement emphasized that "relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams," and that cities that have already gone through the expansion process have priority over Boston, which did not submit an expansion bid in any of the three recent expansion rounds over the past three years. Among the Mohegan tribe's likely proposals to the league, according to sources: • A full franchise sale to Pagliuca's group. • A sale to a group headlined by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, who would move the team to Hartford, Connecticut. • Selling a minority stake in the organization. • Allowing the league to purchase the franchise for $325 million and relocate it from the WNBA's smallest market.

ESPN

A source close to the ownership group says the tribe is frustrated and feels the league is presenting a one-path option: relocation of the team to a market of its choosing at a value of its choosing. The league, in recent weeks, offered to purchase the Sun for $250 million and not charge the buyer an additional relocation fee -- which would allow the league to facilitate a sale to one of its preferred expansion cities, according to sources. That offer was presented before Pagliuca's bid of $325 million was reported on Aug. 2, sources said.

ESPN

The tribe had informed the league that it had reached a deal with Pagliuca to buy the team and presented a general executive summary with the terms of the agreement on July 2, sources said. The ownership group did not present a signed term sheet at that time, according to sources, per guidance from its investment firm, Allen & Co. While that deal did not specifically mention Boston, Pagliuca's intention would be to move the team there, pending WNBA board of governors approval, as early as the 2027 season, according to sources. Pagliuca has also committed to building a $100 million practice facility.

ESPN

Steve Pagliuca: Here’s an important update on our possible acquisition of the Connecticut Sun.

x.com

Gary Washburn: The WNBA released a statement to the Globe regarding the potential of a Connecticut #Sun relocation to Boston: “Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams. 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.”

Twitter

WNBA basketball could be in Boston permanently by 2027 as a Boston-based group led by Celtics minority governor Steve Pagliuca has reached a deal with the Mohegan Tribe to move the Connecticut Sun to TD Garden, according to multiple sources involved in the transaction.

Boston Globe

Pagliuca will pay a record $325 million for the team, according to those sources, then contribute $100 million for a new practice facility in Boston for the Sun to relocate from Uncasville, Conn. Sources said the Tribe has been looking to sell the club and the record offer expedited the process. The sale price would be the highest ever for a professional women’s sports franchise.

Boston Globe

Last week, the Sun sent a letter to season ticket-holders assuring the club will play at Mohegan Sun Arena in the 2026 season. The Boston group is targeting a 2027 move and would potentially play early season games in Providence to avoid any conflict with Bruins and Celtics playoff games. The WNBA has yet to comment on the potential sale. According to an NBA source, the Celtics would have no issue with the Sun moving in. Several Celtics players have attended the Sun games at TD Garden and have expressed support for a team in Boston.

Boston Globe

Rumors about potential issues with the transaction sprouted almost as soon as it was announced in late March, including reports that private-equity firm Sixth Street Partners was contributing more money than Chisholm. The NBA’s private-equity ownership rules stipulate that a PE firm cannot be the largest stakeholder in a team and that the controlling owner must contribute at least 15% of the purchase price.  It wasn’t just media speculation. Steve Pagliuca, a minority owner since 2002 who lost to Chisholm’s group in the battle to buy the Celtics, wrote a fiery public letter to fans last month that said his proposal was “fully guaranteed and financed” and had “no debt or private equity money that would potentially hamstring our ability to compete in the future.” Pagliuca even said: “If the announced transaction does not end up being finalized, my partners and I are ready to check back into the game…”

Front Office Sports

Well, it's just—so you have these two guys. Wyc’s dad puts up the most money for the team. Wyc’s the one that's organizing the group, and it starts out, I think, with four people that put up the money. They get the price, and then their job after they get the price is to go find a group of minority people to offload some of the money they just committed to. Which, by the way, that’s what Chisholm's doing right now. He’s already put the feelers out, trying to put together a little syndicate to offload some of the money that he’s already promised. So that’s in motion now. So they get the four. But Pags was always—it was like, Wyc's the owner, and the dad put up the most money, but also here’s Pags. And they’ve had this uneasy co-owner alliance. Wyc was always the face of it, and it was always a little awkward. You could feel it when they were holding the trophy. You know—that’s when Lasry and Edens had that too. Some of these co-owner—like Guber and Leo, same thing—where it’s like: it’s my team, but you have to be here, and let’s hold the trophy together. And it’s always super awkward.

YouTube

I don’t know how great it was going by the end, because I think when Pagliuca tried to buy the Nets—I don’t think Wyc found out from Pagliuca, is my understanding. And I don’t think it’s been great since then. And I think the reverse of that was: Pagliuca found out that the Celtics were being sold the same way we all did. He was not tipped. He was not given a heads-up.”

YouTube

The Grousbeck side wanted more. They were pushing the number up. And I think one of the ways this really went sideways—there was a moment in this process where stuff gas getting leaked out about the sale. There was an unflattering piece that came out. I don’t even know what Wyc's exact stake is, but about how small Wyc's stake allegedly was with the Celtics, and that they were shooting too high. And I don’t think that went great for Pags. Whether he did something or not—maybe he did nothing—but I think there was a feeling that somebody was trying to 'neg' the price, make it lower, and try to sneak it in. And I think you look at 90-year-old Irv Grousbeck—he’s one of the great businesspeople of the last few decades. Really respected. Respected as a thinker. He’s mentored a bunch of people. He’s rich for a reason. And I don’t think it went over very well that stuff started coming out that they wanted too much for the team.

YouTube