The Connecticut Sun ownership group is reportedly exploring selling the team, news that came out earlier this week. Amid losing their entire starting lineup from the 2024 season and their head coach, Steph White, the team itself is in a rebuild. There were questions about why a playoff team had such trouble retaining its talent, and the speculation immediately turned to their team facilities.
WNBA team sells out season tickets for the first time after speculation they could move
After reports came out that the Connecticut Sun were exploring a sale, they have sold out their season tickets.
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
Chelsea Leite has been writing about professional basketball since 2021, and covers both the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Tempo as a credentialed reporter for SB Nation.
During the 2024 playoffs, it was revealed that the Sun had been kicked out of their practice gym because the space was rented out for a toddler’s birthday party. The team also has no plans to build a dedicated practice facility for their players, as other franchises race to compete with each other in this aspect. In the past few years alone, the Las Vegas Aces, Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury, among others, have built state-of-the-art facilities solely for their WNBA teams.
With the growing pressure to keep up with trends in women’s sports recovery and investment, it was revealed that the Mohegan Tribe, which owns the Sun, have opted to explore a sale, which leaves open the possibility that the team will be relocated out of Connecticut by one of the cities that misses out on the current wave of league expansion bids.
Options for relocation include heading over to Boston, as the team has already sold out multiple special event games in the city. Other cities such as Philadelphia, Nashville, Cleveland, Denver, Charlotte and Houston have been linked to potential expansion teams as well.
Apparently, that caused panic among dedicated women’s basketball fans in the state, which has a rich history with the sport. They went and bought up all the season tickets for the Sun, a franchise first.
In a state that is home to the “basketball capital of the world,” the University of Connecticut, there is a great deal of love for women’s basketball. This rush to sell out season tickets seems like a direct result of the news of a potential sale. Still, even if it’s an admirable effort from the fans to keep their team, it seems unlikely to change the outcome of this latest push to sell the franchise.
But for now, things are business as usual in Connecticut, as the team prepares for their home opener on Sunday, May 18.
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