The Fertitta family has agreed to a deal to purchase the Connecticut Sun and move the WNBA franchise to Houston, the team announced Monday. The sale, worth a reported record-breaking $300 million, has to be approved by the WNBA’s Board of Governors.
“The Connecticut Sun organization understands how emotional this moment is for our fans and community,” team president Jen Rizzotti said in a statement. “You have made a home for this franchise for generations, and we are grateful for the passion and support that made us a cornerstone team in the WNBA. While the league continues to grow and evolve, our commitment is to honor this legacy — and finishing this final season together with pride.”
The Sun will play out the 2026 season in Connecticut before moving to Houston in 2027. The team is expected to play at the Toyota Center, home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, and be renamed the Houston Comets, taking on the name of the original WNBA franchise in the city, which existed from 1997 until 2008. The original Comets, led by Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson won the league’s first four championships and were the first WNBA dynasty.
In June of 2025, after the WNBA announced further expansion to Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030), commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that the league had its “eye on” Houston as a city that could eventually get a team.
“There are a variety of cities that obviously bid, and one of those I wanted to shout out — because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group — is Houston,” Engelbert said at the time. “The Houston Comets were just an amazing one, the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA. So I would say that’s the one, obviously, we have our eye on. [Owner] Tilman [Feritta’s] been a great supporter of the WNBA, and we’ll stay tuned on that.”
The Sun have played in Uncasville, Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena since 2003, when the franchise was purchased by the Mohegan Tribe and relocated from Orlando. The Sun were the first franchise run by a non-NBA owner and were the first to turn a profit.
“The people at Mohegan Sun, I think they stepped up when they were needed and brought a team to Connecticut, as Connecticut deserves to have a team because we’re a proven [area] where people will support women’s basketball,” UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said Friday. “Moving, I think it leaves a void.”
The Sun made the playoffs in 16 of 22 seasons in Connecticut and reached the Finals four times, but lost each time. While the Sun have been successful on the floor, the organization has fallen behind its counterparts off the floor. Notably, the Sun have often practiced at a local community center, and the franchise is the only one that has not announced any recent plans for a new practice facility.
Connecticut’s lack of facilities and amenities became a major issue last winter when its entire starting lineup from the 2024 season, including stars Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones and DeWanna Bonner, left in free agency. The Sun went 11-33 last season, finished in 11th place and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
In August of 2025, the Mohegan Tribe agreed to sell the franchise to then-Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca for $325 million. As part of the deal, the franchise would have been relocated to Boston. After league pushback, however, the sale did not go through.
“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” the WNBA said in a statement at the time. “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. 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. Celtics’ prospective owner Bill Chisholm has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”
The last time a WNBA team was sold was in 2021, when Larry Gottesdiener led a group that bought the Atlanta Dream for under $10 million.
The 2026 WNBA season will go ahead as scheduled after the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association came to terms on a historic new collective bargaining agreement. Opening night is set for May 8, and the regular season will run through Sept. 24.
