[News] Sources: Sun sold to Fertitta family, will relocate to Houston

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NOTE: The below article has been copied over from ESPN.com​

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Sources: Sun sold to Fertitta family, will relocate to Houston​

Alexa Philippou


The Connecticut Sun franchise is being sold to the Fertitta family to bring the WNBA back to Houston, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

The sale agreement is for $300 million, sources said, a record-breaking price for a WNBA team.

The team will play one final season in Uncasville, Connecticut, in 2026 before relocating in 2027. An official announcement is expected Monday.

Sources said the franchise is expected to use the Comets name, harking back to when the Houston Comets were part of the league from 1997 to 2008, an iconic original franchise that won four straight championships from 1997 to 2000.

The WNBA previously indicated strong interest in returning to Houston. At the league's three-team expansion announcement last June, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert specifically highlighted the city of Houston and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta as "up next" and "the one we have our eye on."

ESPN reported in December that the Rockets ownership was in substantive talks with the Sun to buy the franchise. A sale to Rockets ownership marks the latest example of the WNBA moving toward having more teams with NBA owners.

The Sun have been owned by the Mohegan tribe since 2003, when they bought and relocated the franchise (then the Orlando Miracle) from Florida to Uncasville.

The Sun launched a process to explore investment options in fall 2024, initially seeking to assess opportunities for a limited partnership sale that would help fund an infrastructure build. Sun ownership initially reached a deal to sell the team for a record $325 million to a group led by former Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca that would have moved the franchise to Boston, but the WNBA effectively blocked the deal from progressing any further, holding firm 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.

PaperCity Magazine of Houston was first to report the news of the sale to the Fertittas.
 
So the state which is home to the UCONN Women's Basketball dynasty will no longer have a professional Women's Basketball team. Or any major league team at all in the near future. That's really a shame.
 
Rather curious if this move makes any economic sense whatsoever and if it is just a short term money grab why not admit Houston under an expansion plan?

To @hrdboild's point I wonder if maybe the UCONN women's program could be a strike against them in the same way a good chunk of the SEC and B1G don't support major league sports? I don't track attendance but it looks on the surface they have below average attendance and didn't get the CC and new talent boost to the extent that other teams have.
 
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