WNBA, NBA approve Sun sale to Fertitta, relocation to Houston

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors have unanimously authorised the sale and relocation of the Connecticut Sun franchise from the Mohegan Tribe to Houston Rockets proprietor Tilman J. Fertitta, the league introduced Wednesday.

The official information comes after the Sun had first introduced an settlement had been reached with Fertitta in March and substantive talks between the events had been initially reported by ESPN in December.

The Sun will play the rest of the 2026 season in Connecticut — together with two video games at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Connecticut, and one other at TD Garden in Boston — earlier than relocating to Houston forward of the 2027 marketing campaign.

“I think, first and foremost, I want our staff and players to just be able to focus on this season and being present for the 2026 last season in Connecticut,” Sun president Jen Rizzotti instructed reporters forward of the staff’s matchup Wednesday evening in opposition to the Las Vegas Aces. “I think our fans deserve that. And I think as a front office staff, our job is to continue to put on a great show and put a great product on the floor, but also make sure that we’re inviting people into this arena for the last time, and they’re going to create some experiences that will last forever.

“As far because the transfer, we’ll digest that when the time comes after the season. Obviously, there’s a variety of constructive repercussions of being related to a staff that has the sort of sources and infrastructure that Houston has, and I feel that is a constructive for our gamers and our basketball workers as they transfer into the long run, particularly with this new CBA.”

The Sun have been owned by the Mohegan Tribe since 2003, when they bought and relocated the then-Orlando Miracle to Uncasville. The Mohegan Tribe was the league’s first non-NBA owners and the first Native American tribe to own a professional sports team.

Fertitta has owned the Rockets since 2017.

The sale of the franchise is expected to close soon, as it couldn’t be completed without league approval, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.

Sources had told ESPN in March that the sale was set to close at $300 million, a record price for a WNBA team, and did not include a relocation fee.

Rizzotti said there has already been initial collaboration with Rockets personnel, although there will be much more moving forward now that the sale is official. The Rockets have already hired former ESPN NBA reporter Kevin Pelton as the assistant general manager and vice president of analytics for the new WNBA franchise.

“It’s simply been sort of primary introduction and slightly little bit of questioning and diligence because it relates to the enterprise operations of the staff,” Rizzotti said. “But so far as selections strategically that we have been making for the ’26 season, that has fallen on me on the enterprise facet, and myself and [general manager] Morgan [Tuck] on the basketball facet. We’ve looped Houston to a sure extent on that, however we needed to wait they usually needed to wait till it was official for that relationship to be extra formal.”

Rizzotti added she’s been given the impression those working for the Sun who want to move to Hoston will be welcomed to do so, but more formal conversations are expected to happen in the coming months.

Fertitta is the latest NBA owner to acquire a WNBA team. The league’s three upcoming expansion teams — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — all also have NBA ownership.

Rizzotti said that while independent owners should get credit for pouring money into franchises when the league initially moved away from NBA ownership — and that independent owners shouldn’t be excluded moving forward — there are some positives with this emerging trend.

“I feel it is a pure shift, and it is smart that there is a relationship that may profit WNBA groups whenever you’re working in a basketball ecosystem the place you possibly can share sources, whether or not it is basketball sources, whether or not it is entrance workplace, ticket gross sales, advertising and marketing, content material creation sources or facility infrastructure,” Rizzotti said. “The understanding these house owners have now that they’ve to pour into the ladies’s franchise as a lot as they’re pouring into their NBA franchises, it is refreshing to see that occuring.

“I think that it’s OK for the league. It’s something that we should all feel excited about, that there are so many people interested in investing in the WNBA at this time, and we’re going to make the most of it. And we’re going to take advantage of the resources that Houston can provide to us now before we even move there.”

The way forward for the Sun franchise has been in limbo for almost two years, because the staff launched a course of to discover funding choices — together with a possible sale — within the fall of 2024.

Sun possession initially reached a deal final summer season to promote the staff for a report $325 million to a gaggle led by former Celtics minority proprietor Stephen Pagliuca who would have moved the franchise to Boston. But the WNBA successfully blocked the deal from progressing, arguing that “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams” and that cities which have already gone via the enlargement course of — which included Houston — have precedence over Boston.