UNCASVILLE — Fans were already trickling into their seats at Mohegan Sun Arena for the Connecticut Sun‘s game against the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday night when news broke that the team’s relocation to Houston was finally official.
Less than 90 minutes before tipoff, the WNBA announced that its Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Sun to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and the franchise’s move to Houston for the 2027 season. It was the final step in a saga that dragged on for more than a year, the conclusion to a messy and contentious negotiation process that left many fans in Connecticut feeling abandoned by a league that they supported long before it was popular in the mainstream.
ESPN reported March 27 that Fertitta was purchasing the Sun for $300 million, the largest sale in the league history, and Mohegan Tribe ownership confirmed it had reached an agreement with Fertitta on March 30. The deal came after the WNBA struck down multiple bids to keep the Sun in New England, including $325 million offers from prospective ownership groups in Boston and Hartford. Houston also reportedly will not have to pay the WNBA a relocation fee as part of the sale.
The process has been difficult for those inside the franchise, most of whom had no influence on the relocation and limited information about its progress. While the sale to Houston started to seem inevitable as far back as December, the Sun couldn’t truly begin engaging in the transition until the board’s vote. Now that more in-depth conversations can begin, Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti hopes there will be more clarity for the dozens of current Connecticut employees.
“It’s just been a little bit of high-level conversations until this was official … but the feeling that I have been given so far is that everybody that’s working for this organization is welcome to go to Houston,” Rizzotti said Wednesday night. “It’s easier to look at the basketball side, and everybody kind of knows contracts go to Houston — coaches, players, they’re Houston property immediately — but the business staff, that gets a little tougher … So we’ll have more formal conversations as we move forward, but that at least has been communicated to me and allowed me to ease a little bit of that anxiety amongst the staff.”
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The Houston Rockets held a press conference Thursday to celebrate the WNBA’s return to the city after nearly 20 years. The Sun’s relocation will resurrect one of the league’s founding franchises, the Houston Comets, which folded in 2008. The Comets became the first and only team to win four straight WNBA championships from 1997-2000, and they still share the record for most league titles (4) with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm.
“As a Houston sports fan myself, it felt like the sports landscape in this town was incomplete with the void that was left when the Comets left after 12 seasons, and today that is filled,” said Fertitta’s son Patrick, who is part of the Rockets and Comets ownership. “Hopefully we all feel like things are normal again and we can carry on the great tradition that the Comets started years ago … I can assure you that our commitment to that success and excellence is going to be seen and shown throughout.”
Patrick indicated Thursday that the franchise hopes to retain several key members of the Sun’s front office, including Rizzotti and general manager Morgan Tuck. Rizzotti, a two-time All-American at UConn from 1992-96, was drafted by the Comets in 1999 and played in the WNBA until 2003, and she has served as the Sun’s president since 2021. Tuck helped lead UConn to four consecutive NCAA championships from 2012-16 and played five seasons in the WNBA, winning a title with the Seattle Storm in 2020. She joined the Sun’s front office in 2021 and was promoted to general manager ahead of the 2025 season.
“There are wonderful people coming over from the Sun,” Patrick said. “Jen Rizzotti has been there for a long time and done a wonderful job … and Morgan Tuck, who has been there for a few years, has a WNBA championship in her own right and has done a fantastic job helping build that team and running the team on the basketball side. I think it starts with people, and I couldn’t be more excited, enthusiastic and confident in the people who are going to help run the organization here.”
The 2026 season will be the Sun’s last in Connecticut after 23 years calling Mohegan Sun home. The Mohegan Tribe saved the franchise when they purchased it for approximately $10 million and relocated it to Connecticut in 2003. The team was established as the Orlando Miracle in 1999 as a sister team to the NBA’s Orlando Magic, but Magic owner Rich DeVos had no interest in keeping the WNBA franchise and likely would have folded the organization had the Tribe not stepped in.
The Sun became the first WNBA team to make a profit in 2010, and it was top five in the league in attendance from 2018-22. But the Mohegan Tribe struggled to keep up with the level of investment required amid the WNBA’s sudden exponential growth as state-of-the-art practice facilities and elevated player amenities became standard. The Sun currently practice at the Mohegan Tribe’s community center when they don’t have access to the court at Mohegan Sun Arena, and attracting top talent to play in Uncasville has become increasingly challenging.
The bids from Boston and Hartford both included plans to build a standalone practice facility for the team, and the Boston Globe reported that Boston planned to invest $100 million into a facility. But Rockets president Gretchen Sheirr said the Comets will practice at Toyota Center, the 18,000-seat arena that also serves as the home of the Rockets, which is undergoing a $180 million renovation that includes new and updated resources for the WNBA team. The Rockets previously used the facilities at Toyota Center before moving to a new standalone practice facility in 2024.
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“As soon as everyone leaves here today, I’m not kidding, walls are coming down so construction will start,” Sheirr said Thursday during the press conference at Toyota Center. “We’re adding locker rooms, training areas for them … so those plans are underway, the permits are filed, and we’re doing to start really soon so that when their season is over and they start to move here, their facilities will be ready.”
Despite the impending chaos of the relocation and frustrations from the fanbase, the Sun are determined to celebrate the final year in Connecticut. The team has dubbed this the “Sunset Season” and is playing on a special court that features vintage logos from the past two decades. The Sun are also hosting a homecoming game on Sept. 20 to honor some of the franchise’s legends and will conclude the season on a fan appreciation game Sept. 24.
“I’m not saying that our fans aren’t disappointed, I’m not saying that some of them aren’t angry, but there has been more compassion and support from our regulars in a way that’s been really endearing,” Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti said Wednesday night. “I think they know the people that work for this organization feel the way that they do about the passion and the commitment to the Connecticut Sun and what it means to the people of Connecticut.
“We’re going to do everything we can to commemorate our history, commemorate this season, provide great experiences and interactions that are unique to the last season here and treat (the fans) with all the support, love and loyalty that they have shown us.”
Connecticut Sun fanbase shows up stronger than ever despite ‘heartbreaking’ Houston relocation
