Rockets owners to purchase Connecticut Sun, relocate team to Houston: Sources

The Connecticut Sun are lastly off the market. Almost a 12 months after the franchise went up on the market, the Mohegan Tribe is promoting the team to the Fertitta household, the owners of the Houston Rockets, two sources briefed on the deal confirmed. The Sun bought for $300 million, in accordance to one of many sources.

The transaction, when it’s accomplished and permitted by the league’s board of governors, will set a document for a WNBA team sale.

The Fertitta household will transfer the Sun to Houston, a supply confirmed, although not instantly. This will carry the WNBA again to Houston after the Comets franchise disbanded in 2008.

The Paper City Magazine was the first to report the news of the transaction.

The Sun went available on the market final spring and had been practically bought twice. Steve Pagliuca, a Boston Celtics minority proprietor, had an settlement to purchase the team for $325 million. But the deal didn’t move muster with the WNBA league workplace. When the league didn’t approve the deal, which possible would have moved the franchise to Boston, it acquired a proposal from former Milwaukee Bucks proprietor Marc Lasry on the similar worth. Lasry wished to transfer the team to Hartford, Conn. That additionally was not permitted by the WNBA.

Fertitta had proven an curiosity in shopping for the franchise as soon as it hit the market and had tried to purchase a WNBA enlargement team final 12 months earlier than the league awarded ones to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned that Houston can be the subsequent metropolis to get a team.

Now, the Rockets owners will get their very own WNBA team. The league’s return to Houston will give town a historic tie to the league. The Houston Comets had been one of many WNBA’s unique franchises and gained the primary 4 titles in WNBA historical past.