Steve Pagliuca, who owns roughly 6% of the Boston Celtics through a stake valued north of $400 million, has agreed to acquire the Connecticut Sun for $325 million. The transaction awaits WNBA Board of Governors approval, expected by late March.
The Sun's sale price is 2.4x the $135 million figure floated for the Toronto WNBA expansion franchise announced in May 2024. It's 6.5x the $50 million Joe Tsai paid for the New York Liberty in 2019, which itself reset the market. Pagliuca's number also eclipses the $240 million Carolyn Katz paid for the Las Vegas Aces in 2021, the previous high. The Sun generated an estimated $18 million in revenue last season, per league-side figures reviewed by three team operators, placing the sale at roughly 18x trailing revenue—a multiple typical of MLB franchises, not women's basketball.
Pagliuca's entry clarifies what family offices have been pricing since Caitlin Clark's 2.1 million national TV viewers in April. The Sun drew 11,089 fans per game in 2024, third in the league, but play in Mohegan Sun Arena, a 9,323-seat casino venue 90 minutes from Boston. Pagliuca controls venue optionality: he sits on the board of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, which owns the arena, and has spent the last six months in quiet talks with Hartford city planners about a $200 million waterfront facility, according to two people briefed on the discussions. One declined to confirm whether the arena project was contingent on the Sun purchase, but noted Pagliuca's team requested zoning variance documents in November.
The Sun's ownership structure until now was entirely Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, which bought the team for $10 million in 2003 and relocated it from Orlando. The tribe will retain a 15% passive stake post-close, per league filings. That $49 million implied carve-out keeps the team on tribal land and preserves sponsorship continuity with Mohegan's casino network, which runs $1.6 billion in annual gaming revenue. Pagliuca's Bain Capital co-chairmanship gives him access to institutional LPs already sizing women's sports allocations; two Bain portfolio companies—a sportswear brand and a youth-camp operator—have been in preliminary sponsorship conversations since December, according to a Sun front-office source.
The sale resets comp tables for the league's 12 franchises. The Golden State Valkyries, launching in 2025, were capitalized at an estimated $115 million in private funding last year. The Washington Mystics and Atlanta Dream, both rumored for sale, are now pricing at $250 million minimum, per two M&A advisors working women's sports mandates. The Sun finished 28-12 last season, lost in the semifinals, and employ head coach Stephanie White, who left for the Indiana Fever in October. The team hired Rachid Meziane from the Toronto Raptors' G League affiliate in November; his two-year deal pays $750,000 annually, according to a league source, roughly 50% above the previous Sun coaching budget.
Pagliuca will remain a Celtics limited partner. His $325 million outlay is personal capital, not Bain fund money, though Bain's sports advisory group is handling diligence. The transaction is debt-free. Pagliuca's son, Drew, a principal at Bain, is expected to take an operational board seat, mirroring the family's structure at the Celtics. The Sun have a $2.3 million average player salary cap for 2025, up 34% from 2023, per the league's new CBA.
Board approval hinges on Pagliuca divesting any conflicting NBA governance rights, a formality given his minority Celtics position. The league wants the deal closed before the April 18 season opener. Two expansion bids—Philadelphia and Portland—are being priced at $150 million to $175 million per franchise, according to documents reviewed by a consultant advising one bidder. Pagliuca's number makes those figures obsolete.
The Sun's 2024 playoff run generated $4.1 million in incremental gate and sponsorship revenue, per team financials. Pagliuca is buying 21 years of playoff appearances in 23 seasons and a roster with four All-Stars under contract through 2026. The Mohegan casino comp-ticket pipeline alone drove 18% of regular-season attendance last year. Whether Pagliuca keeps that arrangement or builds his own Hartford venue will determine if $325 million was the floor or the ceiling.
The takeaway
Pagliuca's $325M sets a new WNBA franchise floor and forces expansion bids and legacy sales to reprice upward by 40% minimum.
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