Connecticut State Comptroller Sean Scanlon didn’t mince words when he took to TikTok last week to advocate for the Connecticut Sun to remain in state, directly calling out the WNBA for prioritizing its own interests over the needs of the fans and the team’s history of success under the Mohegan Tribe’s ownership.
The tribe, which purchased the Sun in 2003, began exploring a potential sale of the team nearly a year ago and currently has two offers on the table — one from a group in Boston led by former Celtics minority governor Steve Pagliuca and another from a Hartford-based group led by former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry. But the WNBA reportedly told the tribe its Board of Governors would not approve a move to either Boston or Hartford, leaving the sale in limbo.
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“I understand the significance of this franchise to Connecticut, and the potential for this franchise to mean even more for us going forward from an economic development perspective if this specific deal (with Hartford) were to go through,” Scanlon told the Courant. “If you look at the comment section of my TikTok, there were hundreds of people who were pissed off about this that don’t even live in Connecticut, who are just mad about what’s happening … The WNBA, more than anything else, cares about one thing and one thing only, and that’s money. When they start to see the consequences of their fans being mad about this, I think they’re going to wake up to the reality that they can’t afford to keep blocking this deal and risk alienating this really important fanbase.”
The negotiation process has been chaotic after it was initially reported that tribe agreed to sell the team to Pagliuca for $325 million plus a $100 million commitment to build a dedicated practice facility. But the deal couldn’t be finalized without league approval, and the Hartford bid has since matched the offer of $325 million with its own plans to construct a new downtown facility. ESPN reported that the WNBA made its own counteroffer in July to purchase the team for $250 million without charging a relocation fee, thus allowing the league to facilitate the sale and relocation to the city of its choice.
Multiple state officials, including Governor Ned Lamont, have vocally supported keeping the Sun in Connecticut over the last several months, but it was reports of that offer from the WNBA that prompted Scanlon to speak out on social media.
“The tribe has been very clear as of late that they want to keep the team in Connecticut. That has been made clear to me by representatives of the tribe,” Scanlon said. “The fact that the WNBA is suggesting to pay them $75 million less I think is a slap in the face to an indigenous tribe, first of all, that owns this team, but it’s a slap in the face to the state, our fanbase, and I just think it really undervalues their own league … At the end of the day, I think what matters is that people are going to understand more and more what’s going on here, that this big corporate interest is trying to lowball our tribe and steal our team.”
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ESPN reported Thursday that the state of Connecticut submitted an additional proposal which would have the state enter into a limited partnership agreement with the tribe. The team would remain primarily at Mohegan Sun Arena with some games held at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. The proposal, which is still subject to league approval, reportedly involves state-affiliated funding and would have the state build and finance a practice facility in Hartford for the team to lease.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said in August that there had been preliminary conversations about potential sites for a downtown practice facility, notably the area around the western side of Constitution Plaza. Scanlon declined to comment on the proposed use of state funds.
“I’m speaking out simply as the fiscal watchdog of Connecticut,” Scanlon said. “The way I see this deal, and based on what I know, it’s a good thing for Connecticut, but I’ll let the governor and others that are more familiar with what exactly is in that deal answer that question, because I don’t feel like it’s my question to answer.”
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Scanlon believes even a part-time move to Hartford could be transformative for the city, which hasn’t hosted a major professional sports team since the city’s NHL franchise, the Hartford Whalers, was relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina to become the Hurricanes in 1997. PeoplesBank Arena is already in the midst of a $145 million renovation, and the WNBA’s summer schedule would bring a spike in tourism to the arena and downtown Hartford during one of its slowest seasons.
“I grew up in (the southern part of the state), and the only time I ever came to Hartford was for the Whalers games,” Scanlon said. “For a lot of people, the only time they come to Hartford is because of a UConn game. We need to change that … Every time a fan comes to see a hockey game or a basketball game, they’re maybe getting food, they’re parking, they’re checking out a restaurant. I just think it’s a really economically important thing for Connecticut to have that going on here.”
The public campaign from state officials appears to be working as pressure to keep the Sun also mounts from the team’s supporters. A gaggle of fans seated near the top of the lower bowl carried signs at Monday’s home game against the Atlanta Dream reading “Please don’t take the Sun away!!!” and a fan-led petition supporting a sale to the Hartford ownership group has garnered more than 500 signatures in two weeks. The campaign’s website provides a template letter for fans to send to the Mohegan Tribe, and it has Twitter and Instagram accounts advocating to keep the Sun in-state.
Sun season ticket holder Mike Marion began bringing his youngest daughter to games nearly 20 years ago, and the fandom has become multi-generational with his granddaughters now regularly attending alongside him. At Monday’s game, a fellow fan on the concourse was handing out slips of paper with QR codes that linked to the petition, and Marion immediately began to share them with the other fans in his section, also posting photos on social media. He said the sale process has been deeply frustrating for the fanbase, but the possibility of the team remaining in Hartford is creating a new sense of hope.
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“I watched all the things the tribe did for the league when it was in the down and outs … so I don’t understand how you can make them sell a team for $250 (million) and move them to Houston when they’re offered $325 (million), whether it’s Boston or Hartford. It just boggles the mind,” Marion said. “There’s nobody I have talked to that thinks Houston is a good idea. The definite preference would be Hartford. I think everybody thinks that that is really the smart move. They’re okay with that, because that’s really not going to inconvenience anybody that goes to the games, and it certainly will make it easier on the players.”
Marion, a Norwich resident, said he would support the state using public money to invest in the team, largely because of the significant amount of taxpayer funds that have already gone towards the renovation at PeoplesBank Arena, formerly known as the XL Center.
“If the state is dropping all this money on the XL Center, and they can get an anchor team, a pro franchise to have a home base out of it, then that makes that investment that they put into the XL Center worthwhile,” Marion said. “I mean, it’s a free arena in the summer with nothing scheduled … If the state thinks that they can get an anchor tenant by getting a minority stake in the team, I think that’s a really great idea.”
