Steve Pagliuca, who owns roughly 6% of the Boston Celtics through a limited partnership, agreed to acquire the Connecticut Sun for $325 million, pending league approval. The price is 2.5x the $130 million valuation bankers quietly assigned Golden State's nascent franchise eighteen months ago and 65% above the San Francisco expansion fee paid last spring. The Sun generated roughly $18 million in revenue last season, implying an 18x multiple that treats the asset as platform infrastructure, not current cash flow.
The deal closes a four-month process run by a New York advisory shop that contacted eleven groups, including private equity funds already holding NBA stakes and three family offices in the $5-10 billion AUM range. Pagliuca's winning bid beat a $310 million offer from a West Coast technology founder and a $295 million consortium that included a former Nike executive. The seller, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, acquired the franchise in 2003 for an undisclosed sum believed to be under $10 million. Mohegan will retain naming and arena-services rights at Mohegan Sun Arena through 2033, a detail that preserves $2.3 million in annual venue economics while monetizing the team asset itself.
The price matters because it resets the WNBA's valuation architecture twelve months before the league opens its next media-rights negotiation. Current national deals with ESPN, Amazon, and CBS total roughly $200 million annually through 2025, or $16.7 million per team. Comparable NBA rights generate $333 million per team, but the gap is narrowing faster than league projections anticipated. Attendance rose 18% year-over-year in 2024, and four franchises reported local sponsorship increases above 25%, driven by brands reallocating spend from college volleyball and soccer. Pagliuca's multiple suggests he is underwriting a 3-4x media bump in the next cycle, which would lift per-team distributions to $50-65 million and rationalize his entry price on a 6-7 year payback.
The Sun represent a clean operational target. They made the playoffs in nine of the past ten seasons, rank fourth in average attendance at 7,842 per game, and operate in a footprint that overlaps with Celtics season-ticket holders willing to add a summer package. Pagliuca already sits on Bain Capital's portfolio committee and the Celtics' ownership board, which means he knows how to navigate league approval processes and minority-partner governance. His move also signals confidence in the WNBA's expansion roadmap: commissioner Cathy Engelbert has committed to adding two franchises by 2028, with Toronto, Portland, and Nashville considered front-runners. Each new team lifts league-wide revenue by approximately $15-20 million through expansion fees and incremental media inventory.
Three data points suggest the valuation is not an outlier. First, the Las Vegas Aces were valued at approximately $140 million in a 2021 refinancing, then reportedly drew offers near $250 million during informal conversations last fall. Second, private equity firms with NBA exposure—including Dyal Capital and Arctos Partners—have been modeling WNBA acquisitions since early 2023, treating them as call options on women's sports broadly. Third, Pagliuca's Celtics stake has appreciated roughly 4.2x since his 2002 purchase, which aligns with his public comments that WNBA franchises are undervalued relative to NBA comparables when adjusted for growth trajectories.
The deal now enters a 60-90 day league approval window. Pagliuca will meet with the WNBA's finance committee in early February and present to the full board of governors by mid-March. Mohegan's retained arena rights require a clean handoff on game-day operations, including concessions splits and parking revenue, which typically takes 30-45 days to finalize. Pagliuca is expected to retain head coach Stephanie White and general manager Darius Taylor, both of whom have two years remaining on their contracts. The team's twelve-player roster is already set for 2025, with $1.9 million in committed salary under the league's $2.2 million cap.
Watch for Pagliuca's first sponsor announcement, likely within 90 days of closing. The Sun's jersey patch has been vacant since a regional healthcare system declined renewal last summer, and Pagliuca's Bain network includes portfolio companies in financial services and consumer goods that have been testing women's sports activations. Also watch Golden State's ownership group: if the Sun close at $325 million, the Valkyries' implied valuation jumps to $400 million, which matters for their next capital raise. Toronto's expansion bid, expected to be formalized by June, will now price in the $325 million comp.
The number to remember is 18x revenue. That is not a sports multiple. That is a media-platform multiple, priced for the next contract cycle and the one after.
The takeaway
Pagliuca's **$325M** Sun bid treats WNBA as media infrastructure, not team economics, resetting franchise floors before **2025** rights talks.
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