Connecticut Government Fighting To Keep WNBA Sun Inside State Lines

The Connecticut Sun could possibly be relocating.

Jul 19, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detailed view of the jersey of Connecticut Sun player Marina Mabrey (4) in the skills challenge during the WNBA All-Star Skills Night at the Footprint Center. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The WNBA is growing and gaining attention across the world. There is debate now about relocating the Connecticut Sun into a larger area and outside the state lines of Connecticut. Even though the team has looked at a move to Boston (which is a less than two hours from their current arena) the government for Connecticut wants to keep the organization.

The Mohegan Tribe (current owners) are looking to sell the team. They spent a considerable amount of time exploring options and then working with two potential buyers. Boston-based Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca, along with a Hartford-based group, including Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, put offers on the table. Ultimately, the WNBA would intervene and offered to purchase the team at a reduced price.

Connecticut Still Fighting to Keep Team

David Butler II-Imagn Images

In an article in the Hartford Courant (subscription required), Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz made the case for keeping the team .

“We’ve been having advocacy conversations to keep them in Connecticut, because we feel very strongly that Connecticut is the college basketball capital of the world, so having the Sun here expands our basketball legacy,” she said. “We want to keep them here because I think it just makes our state so much more fun and vibrant. We know also that the team is an economic driver, and so we’d like to keep them here and see them continue to grow audiences and thrive.”

The Sun have become a fixture in the state over the last 23 years and provide a lot of community involvement. The players become role models for the younger generation of up-and-coming basketball stars and the proof is in the return of several players who developed at UConn and then made their way to the Sun.

According to the Courant article, in the two decades the Sun have been in Connecticut , 49 UConn alumni have joined the WNBA. Of those, 19 have returned at some time to play for the Sun. Currently, there are four UConn alumni on the roster.

Those kinds of stats drive fans to the games. They keep people engaged and following their favorite "local" player. There is proof for that in the attendance records the Sun are setting. They are currently experiencing their highest-ever annual attendance in 2025. Accordingly, the team sold out their season tickets for the first time in history this year.

It's not just the Lt. Governor advocating to keep the team. The state Comptroller Sean Scanlon put out his own personal message on his X account.

“As the CFO of the state, I know that keeping this franchise here in Connecticut isn’t just good for fans of the team in the basketball capital of the world. It’s good for our state and the city of Hartford in particular,” Scanlon said in avideo posted to his official X account. “The WNBA and powerful corporate outside interests are blocking this deal, and they’re trying to steal the team from Connecticut against the will of the owners of the team, against the fanbase of Connecticut. The message is to the WNBA and the NBA that controls the WNBA, don’t take our team away.”

The @WNBA is trying to take our team.

Against the will of the current owners and the fans, they are stalling a deal that keeps the @ConnecticutSun here and is a huge economic win for Hartford and CT, all so they can make more money.

No.

Approve this deal, @WNBA, and stop… pic.twitter.com/4STOj6lPsG

— Comptroller Sean Scanlon (@CTComptroller) August 27, 2025

Only time will tell how this all plays out but it certainly has been an interesting discussion so far. Expansion is coming and there are several advocates to moving the Sun, but the people of Connecticut are taking a stand and fighting to keep their beloved team local.

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