WNBA Leadership Attempting to Direct Connecticut Sun to Houston

WNBA Houston Comets vs Los Angeles Sparks — Source: Todd Warshaw / Getty

It’s been nearly two decades since the last time one of the WNBA‘s greatest franchises played a game, but the day the Houston Comets return may not be too far away. WNBA executives reportedly have interest in setting the Connecticut Sun, currently up for sale, down in Houston over other potential destination cities, according to Front Office Sports.

The Sun, which have been based in Uncasville, CT since 2003, were put up for sale by the Mohegan Tribe. In July, the tribe struck an exclusivity deal with former Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca to sell the team to him for $325 million.

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The deal was stalled by WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert, who reportedly never presented the deal to the league’s board of governors, causing window on the exclusivity deal to close. Since then, former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has matched the $325 million offer.

Reportedly, Pagliuca wants to move the team to Boston, while Lasry wants to move the team to nearby Hartford, CT. Englebert and the WNBA reportedly have little interest in either of those destinations for the Sun, especially Hartford, according to reports. New Celtics owner Bill Chisholm reportedly delayed Pagliuca’s bid to buy the Sun, who reached out to the league office to say the WNBA should award Boston a team “at the appropriate time.”

Over the last couple years, the WNBA has been rapidly expanding, moving into new markets and returning to markets where teams once were before either moving or folding. Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia paid a combined total $750 million in expansion fees for teams expected to start play in 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will begin play in 2026.

The WNBA reportedly favors NBA ownership groups when awarding new franchises to owners, like in the case of the Fire, Tempo and Golden State Valkyries, citing the infrastructure they can provide with the arenas and practice facilities already inhabited by NBA franchises. Chisholm’s words to the WNBA’s office supports this idea. This is where Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta comes in.

Fertitta attempted to lead a Houston-based ownership group to come up with the $250 million expansion fee for a WNBA expansion franchise, but was among the nine other cities that lost out to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. With the Sun for sale, the WNBA would reportedly favor a deal if Fertitta were able to buy the team for $325 million and pay the relocation fee, expediting the process for a team to return to Houston.

WNBA Comets — Source: Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor, Cynthia Cooper, Tammy Jackson, and Sheryl Swoops hold up four trophies representing their four straight WNBA championships during a rally after a parade in downtown Houston, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000. (Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

The Comets were one of the eight original WNBA teams, founded in 1997, and went on to win the league’s first four championships between 1997 and 2000. The team featured several of the league’s early iconic players like Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and the late Kim Perrot. Houston is one of the largest markets in sports, and it would make a lot of sense for WNBA leadership to desire a return to the city and resurrect one of its greatest franchises.

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Bring Back Our Comets? WNBA Leadership Attempting to Direct Sun to Houston was originally published on houstonseagle.com