WNBA-to-Boston celebrations premature? League pushes back on CT Sun move after Pagliuca deal
Former Boston Celtics minority owner and Bain Capital executive Steve Pagliuca recently purchased the team for a record $325 million, with another $100 million earmarked to build a dedicated practice facility for the team in Boston. But per Washburn, after news of the sale broke this week, the league sent the reporter a release pushing back on a potential move out of the Nutmeg state. "Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams," related the WNBA to Washburn, also noting that "no groups from Boston applied for a team."
This could put a bit of a damper on things, given Pagliuca would be one of the first names for an expansion team in the area, yet the former Celtics owner now finds himself the new owner (pending league approval) of a team the WNBA appears determined to keep in Connecticut.
"Nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration. Those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston," added the league.
This course of action may have actually put the city behind the proverbial eight ball, as the WNBA may be looking to avoid following in the footsteps of the NBA with the highly unpopular move of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in the aughts.
Interestingly, the release tendered to Washburn also notes that a "prospective Celtics owner has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time." Does this mean the ownership group helmed by Bill Chisholm currently in the process of securing final NBA approval to buy the Boston-based NBA ball club is also the leading group to secure a WNBA team in the same city?
At present, details on all of the above are murky, but will likely continue to develop in the coming weeks.
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