Connecticut Sun could be moving to Boston by 2027 [Report]

The Connecticut Solar may very well be transferring to Boston by 2027, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported on Saturday afternoon. The Mohegan Solar tribe — the group’s present possession group — has agreed to promote the group to a bunch led by Steve Pagliuca, who has been one of many minority house owners of the Boston Celtics since 2002.

Pagliuca hoped to buy the Celtics this previous yr from fellow proprietor Wyc Grousbeck, however one other possession group, led by Invoice Chisholm, was chosen. Now, the longtime Boston sports activities proprietor may very well be bringing girls’s basketball to Boston.

Per the Globe, Pagliuca has agreed to pay a file $325 million for the group, and likewise contribute $100 million for a brand new apply facility in Boston. That’s the very best value ever paid for knowledgeable girls’s sports activities group. (For reference, Pagliuca and the opposite Celtics house owners buy the Celtics for $360 million in 2002).

The Solar don’t presently have their very own apply facility in Uncasville, Connecticut, the place the group is presently primarily based.

The WNBA might block the Solar’s transfer to Boston

An necessary notice is that the sale nonetheless needs to be permitted by the WNBA and the league’s governor, and in response to a Globe supply, the WNBA would moderately save Boston as a possible growth metropolis in 2033.

The WNBA launched the next assertion to the Boston Globe: “Relocation selections are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and never by particular person groups. As a part of our most up-to-date growth course of, wherein three new franchises had been awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, 9 extra cities additionally utilized for WNBA groups and stay underneath lively consideration. No teams from Boston utilized for a group at the moment and people different cities stay into consideration primarily based on the in depth work they did as a part of the growth course of and presently have precedence over Boston. Celtics’ potential proprietor Invoice Chisholm has additionally reached out to the league workplace and requested that Boston obtain robust consideration for a WNBA franchise on the acceptable time.”

The WNBA is amid main growth

Because it presently stands, there are 13 groups within the WNBA, with the Golden State Valkyries being this yr’s growth group. Subsequent season, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Hearth will be part of the league, whereas Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia are all set to get their very own groups over the following 5 years.

The Solar have performed two common season video games at TD Backyard in Boston — final yr towards the Los Angeles Sparks and this yr towards the Indiana Fever — and each video games had been bought out. Celtics gamers attended each video games.

After final yr’s sport between the Sparks and the Solar, then-Solar star DiJonai Carrington gushed in regards to the environment.

“It felt nice,” Carrington stated. “It felt like each sport ought to really feel like.”

The Connecticut Solar have lengthy been one of many WNBA’s premier groups, however they’re presently in a rebuilding season and have a league-worst 5-21 file.

Pagliuca has reportedly been hoping to convey a WNBA group to Boston for years, one thing that Governor Maura Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu have each been vocal about. Michael Carter-Williams and Donnie Wahlberg had been additionally beforehand working to convey a group to Boston, both by way of sale or WNBA growth.

The Mohegan Tribe has already knowledgeable ticket-holders the group will play in Uncasville for the 2026 season, however this transfer positions the group for a Boston relocation in 2027, as long as the WNBA approves the transaction.

This story will probably be up to date as extra data is offered.