-
Alexa Philippou
Alexa Philippou
ESPN
- Covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA
- Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
- Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
-
Ramona Shelburne
Ramona Shelburne
ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior writer for ESPN.com
- Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News
Aug 19, 2025, 11:11 AM ET
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.
A…