Report: Sun relocating to Boston as soon as 2027 in record-breaking sale

A group led by Boston Celtics minority governor Steve Pagliuca has agreed to a deal with Connecticut Sun ownership to relocate the WNBA team to TD Garden as soon as 2027, sources told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.

Pagliuca will reportedly pay a record $325 million for the franchise and contribute $100 million for a new practice facility in Boston.

The purchase would be the highest-ever sale price for a professional women's sports franchise.

The Mohegan Tribe, which has owned the Sun since 2003, has been looking to sell the club, and the offer from Pagliuca's group sped up the process, adds Washburn.

All sales for a WNBA franchise must be approved by the league and its board of governors. The WNBA apparently prefers to have Boston serve as a possible expansion city in 2033, Washburn reports.

"As part of our most recent expansion process, in which three new franchises were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration," a WNBA statement said, according to Washburn.

"No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time, and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston."

If the league forces the Tribe to keep the team in-state, it'll abide by the WNBA's wishes, a source told Washburn. However, the Tribe has chosen to sell the Sun to Pagliuca's Boston-based group and has been determined to find the most lucrative offer, Washburn notes.

Connecticut has played a pair of sellout contests at TD Garden in the past two years.

The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will join the WNBA next season. The league is also adding teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia in the coming years to bring the total number of teams to 18 in 2030.