The WNBA has made it no secret that it wasn’t happy about a proposed deal that would move the Connecticut Sun to Boston.
According to ESPN, the Sun’s attempt to sell the team is even messier behind the scenes.
In an expansive story published Tuesday, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Alexa Philippou described how the WNBA has meddled with the Mohegan Tribe’s attempts to sell its franchise.
The Mohegan Tribe, which has owned the team 2003, reportedly feels like the WNBA will only allow them to sell the team to a “a market of their choosing at a value of their choosing.”
ESPN reports that the league offered to buy the Sun for a price tag of $250 million and waive the relocation fee so it could handpick its preferred destination for the franchise. That figure is dwarfed by the reported $325 million offered by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca to move the team to Boston.
ESPN also reports that the Mohegan Tribe is “frustrated” and feels the league has become “antagonistic” about the sale process after declining an early bid from Cleveland, one of the WNBA’s preferred destinations for a new team.
When news of Pagliuca’s bid to buy the Sun went public, the WNBA responded with a statement that was critical of Boston as a destination. The league noted that the city did not apply for a team as part of the most recent expansion process.
That failure to submit an expansion bid reportedly remains a major issue with the WNBA.
Instead, the league reportedly wants Boston to wait in line for a new expansion team – and to work with new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm instead of Pagliuca when that happens.
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