Yes. We can end the “ WNBA loses money!” Lie. Always was. The Celtics went for $330 million in 2001?

He paid \(275 million in 2010 which is about \)410 million today with inflation. Him selling them for $3 billion in 2023 is an all time hustle

Because the League wants Boston as an open market for a large future expansion fee. So effing stupid.

It’s like the one state whose favorite sport is women’s college basketball.

Bring back the Whalers

Can’t have shit in Connecticut

Well, at least we have UConn I guess

Very sad to see. The midsized cities can’t have nothing in this country. I’d love to see more teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Jose Sharks, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Eh…honestly they always felt more like a casino team than a CT team to me. Since we lost the whalers I’ve just been wandering around, staring at walls, sort of directionless anyway.

Just lost the Bridgeport Islanders too. Shit looks bleak in CT.

Houston had a team and they went bankrupt because no-one went to games. Connecticut fans supported a wnba team during the bad years and then the league railroads the team out of New England altogether when the league is on the up-and-up. Fucking bullshit.

Fuck Houston, they deserve to be in a red state with shit traffic.

I didn’t know shit about basketball growing up but really liked the Comets logo, that and the Rockets logo from the 80s are two of my favorites ever.

Ideally they just bring it back but if they do a rebrand (which they likely will) I hope they don’t fuck up too hard.

i mean fuck it i love wnba sometimes and see this as a win for the women who want access to a bigger market and better facilities. this is a step in the right direction for that imho. i believe the sun are one of the worst teams in the wnba with low attendance as well so why not take this shot

“Nice” - some guy in Salt Lake City

Here come the Celtettes

And a shame bc I don’t think I’m gonna be able to look at that expansion the same knowing the NBA basically killed the Sun for it to happen

Disgusting to create a problem so you can come back and sell the solution

Is this Fertitta family related at all to Lorenzo, former UFC owner?

They were supposed to, the biggest offer they got was to move to Boston, the move to Houston was pretty much forced by the league

Sometimes I wish we’d get another shot at one but I think they’re like “you named your first one the STARZZ, no more chances for you”

But Houston Comets back on the menu.

“They get sun in Connecticut?”

I’m from CT and we are rabid basketball fans even for women’s ball. This sucks.

Same. I was done with it permanently 20 years ago but this totally justifies that decision.

Why is it any worse than OKC?

Are people trolling ITT lol. I’ve been to three games over the last few years and the attendance is just terrible. Last year they were ass so I understand that but the years prior they were good and the attendance was still lacking when I went.

He’s the Rockets owner. They want more NBA/WNBA single entities rather than independent WNBA owners. I have to be honest as a Golden State fan and say it’s kinda our fault. We got the first of a wave of new expansion teams and Lacob has done a masterful job of creating a unified brand identity and cross-marketing opportunities. The two previously announced teams coming this year in Portland and Toronto are independent, but the three recently announced teams coming in at the end of the decade (Cleveland, Detroit, Philly) are all by their NBA owners and now this sale too.

Not only did they get two deals for \(325m, they wanted the Sun to sell to Fertitta for *\)250m*.

The Sun went on the market last spring and were nearly sold twice. Steve Pagliuca, a Boston Celtics minority owner, had an agreement to buy the team for $325 million. But the deal did not pass muster with the WNBA league office. When the league did not approve the deal, which likely would have moved the franchise to Boston, it received an offer from former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry at the same price. Lasry wanted to move the team to Hartford, Conn. That also was not approved by the WNBA.

Tilman Fertitta had shown an interest in buying the franchise once it hit the market and had tried to acquire a WNBA expansion team last year before the league awarded ones to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that Houston would be the next city to get a team.

The WNBA leadership made it clear to Mohegan Tribe leaders that the way to resolve their impasse with the franchise was to sell the Sun to Fertitta for $250 million and let him move the team down to Houston.

That’s like actual mob shit lol. Connecticut got hosed.

Yeah that’s the part that sucks. The Comets are a WNBA cornerstone that should be back in the league but it’s just screwing over another fanbase.

It’s been in the works for awhile. The owner is the Mohegan Tribe, they are making a huge profit off of this and may need the liquidity.  They also would need to invest more capital to keep the team, and the location in SE Connecticut is not ideal. 

The tribe bought them when franchise values were at an all time low (one article I found said $10 million). The Miracle were about to fold because the (NBA) owner didn’t want to fund them anymore and they couldn’t find any local owners.

Now that valuations have skyrocketed, they’ll get a handsome return on the investment. It’s just a shame we’re seemingly going backwards by prioritizing NBA owners that have never had the leagues best interests at heart.

Yeah Timmy sucks

I’ve been in the bar & restaurant industry for 30+ years. The 5 months I spent in Landry’s was the singular worst work experience I ever had. Fuck Tilman, fuck his shitty restaurants and fuck this move

Thank you:/ we can’t have anything in CT :/

Agreed. The Houston Connecticut Sun

Houston Comets existed until 2008, they’ll probably just go back to that

They will be changed to the Comets immediately most likely

The 3x Champion Houston Comets would like a word

100%. Zero respect for the community.

On the other hand, because of franchising, you can’t really open up a new team wherever you want, so they keep buying existing teams. If the NBA/WNBA had a multi-league circuit with promotions and relegations, you could just start a team in Houston from scratch, get some good players and coaches and make your way to the top league in a few seasons (possibly relegating the Connecticut team in the process). It’s way more organic this way, but franchising makes it impossible.

So heartbreaking

They blocked a sale that was 25 million higher than the Houston purchase to one of the former Celtics owners who was going to move the team to Boston because they wanted the expansion fee from a future Boston bid

There was another blocked purchase that would have had the team in Hartford

The women’s basketball landscape is a little different than it was in 1997.

I mean…yea. The seasons don’t really overlap that much

No it’s gonna be the Astrodome

Yes… Timmy bought the team, I’d imagine they’ll play in the arena he owns along with the other basketball team he owns in Houston.