Connecticut Sun reach deal to move team to Houston in 2027

The Connecticut Sun have reached an agreement to sell the team to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million and will move to Houston in 2027, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Friday because the deal hasn't been announced publicly. The WNBA Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale and the move. The team will play in Connecticut for the upcoming season before moving to Houston and becoming the Comets again. This will end a 23-year run by the team in New England after the team moved to Connecticut from Orlando in 2003. Houston was one of the groups that expressed interest in buying the team last year, eventually raising its bid to $250 million — the amount that Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia paid for expansion fees. Now with the $300 million sale price that's the highest a team has been sold for in WNBA history. The Sun had an offer for $325 million from a group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca that would have moved the franchise to Boston. The WNBA basically blocked that deal from happening by saying that "relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams." The league also went on to say that other teams had gone through the expansion process and had priority over Boston. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during a news conference to announce the three new expansion teams that Houston was up next. Ever since Mark Davis bought the Las Vegas Aces in 2021, the league has added new owners that have some sort of NBA tie. Golden State, which came into the league last season, is owned by the Warriors. Portland and Toronto are coming into the WNBA this season and the ownership groups are connected to NBA teams. The next three expansion teams — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — are all owned by NBA groups in those cities. The WNBA just agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement last week where teams need to have top notch facilities similar to those of NBA franchises. With the news of the deal on Friday, it allows the franchise to have clarity for potential free agents who could sign with the Sun next month. The Houston Comets were one of the original franchises in the league that won the first four WNBA championships from 1997-2000. The franchise disbanded after the 2008 season. The last WNBA team to move cities was the Las Vegas Aces, who relocated from San Antonio in 2017. ___ AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball