ESPN sources verified on Friday that the Connecticut Sun franchise is being acquired by the Fertitta family, a move aimed at reinstating the WNBA in Houston.
According to informants, the club commanded a price of $300 million, marking an unprecedented acquisition cost for a WNBA team.
The club is slated to complete one last season in Uncasville, Connecticut during 2026, prior to its relocation in 2027. A formal declaration is anticipated on Monday.
Informants indicated that the new entity is anticipated to adopt the Comets moniker, recalling the period when the Houston Comets were a league participant from 1997 to 2008 – a renowned foundational franchise that secured four consecutive championships between 1997 and 2000.
The WNBA had earlier expressed considerable eagerness to re-establish a presence in Houston. During the league’s declaration of three-team expansion last June, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert particularly singled out Houston and Houston Rockets proprietor Tilman Fertitta, labeling them as “next in line” and “our primary focus.”
ESPN had previously disclosed in December that the Rockets’ ownership group was engaged in significant discussions with the Sun regarding the acquisition of the franchise. This transaction involving the Rockets’ proprietors serves as the newest illustration of the WNBA’s progression towards a greater number of teams under NBA ownership.
The Mohegan tribe has possessed the Sun since 2003, a year in which they procured and moved the franchise (then known as the Orlando Miracle) from Florida to Uncasville.
In autumn 2024, the Sun initiated a procedure to investigate potential investment avenues, with an initial goal of evaluating prospects for a limited partnership divestment intended to finance infrastructure development. Initially, the Sun’s proprietors secured an agreement to transfer the team for a record $325 million to a consortium headed by Steve Pagliuca, a former minority owner of the Boston Celtics, a transaction that would have seen the franchise relocate to Boston. However, the WNBA substantially impeded the deal from advancing, maintaining steadfastly that “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams” and that locales which have already completed the expansion procedure possess precedence over Boston.
PaperCity Magazine of Houston was the initial publication to disclose the news concerning the transfer to the Fertitta family.