After nearly a year of negotiations, the WNBA Board of Governors officially approved the sale of the Connecticut Sun to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and the franchise’s relocation to Houston for the 2027 season.
According to a release from the WNBA, the sale and relocation were unanimously approved by the board.
ESPN reported March 27 that Fertitta is purchasing the Sun for $300 million, the largest sale in the league history. In Houston, the WNBA will resurrect one of its founding franchises, the Houston Comets, which folded in 2008. The Comets became the first and only team to win four straight WNBA championships from 1997-2000, and they still share the record for most league titles (4) with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm.
Mohegan Tribe ownership confirmed it had reached an agreement with Fertitta on March 30. The deal came after the WNBA struck down multiple bids to keep the Sun in New England, including $325 million offers from prospective ownership groups in Boston and Hartford. Those bids also included multimillion-dollar commitments to build a practice facility for the team.
The 2026 season will be the Sun’s last in Connecticut after 23 years calling Mohegan Sun home. The Mohegan Tribe saved the franchise when they purchased it for approximately $10 million and relocated it to Connecticut in 2003. The team was established as the Orlando Miracle in 1999 as a sister team to the NBA’s Orlando Magic, but Magic owner Rich DeVos had no interest in keeping the WNBA franchise and likely would have folded the organization had the Tribe not stepped in.
Six WNBA franchises folded under NBA ownership from 2002-09, but the WNBA’s recent explosion in popularity has brought with it a new wave of interest from the men’s league. Fertitta also owns the Houston Rockets, and the WNBA, which is 42% owned by the NBA, established a pattern of preference toward NBA ownership groups in its expansion process. Of six expansion teams awarded since 2023, all have gone to bids led by active NBA owners: Golden State (2025), Portland (2026), Toronto (2026), Cleveland (2027), Detroit (2028) and Philadelphia (2029).
The three most recent expansion franchises awarded — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — all paid the league an expansion fee of $250 million. ESPN reported that Houston will not have to pay a relocation fee to the league as part of its purchase of the Sun.
The Sun were consistently among the WNBA’s top-performing franchises on and off the court before the league’s sudden exponential growth. In 2010, it became the first WNBA team to make a profit, and it was top five in the league in attendance from 2018-22.
Connecticut made eight consecutive appearances in the WNBA Playoffs from 2017-24, including two runs to the Finals, but the team began to fall behind in its investment over the last three years as dedicated practice facilities and elevated player amenities became standard. The Sun practice at the Mohegan Tribe’s community center when they don’t have access to the court at Mohegan Sun, and attracting top talent to play in Uncasville became more and more challenging.
After the 2024 season, the Sun were forced into a major rebuild when almost every veteran on its roster left via free agency or trade. The team had its worst year since 2013 in 2025, going 11-33 and failing to make the postseason. Connecticut is 0-2 to start the 2026 season.
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