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However, there may be no deal to make.
After receiving robust resistance from the WNBA to sell a team to new owners who would want to move the team to either Boston or Hartford, the Mohegan Tribe is contemplating taking the team off the market completely, according to a source familiar with the tribe’s thinking.
Another outcome would involve bringing on new investors who could help support the team’s stay in the league’s smallest market.
Key to both plans would be building a much-needed practice facility on tribal property, a move that would keep the team in Connecticut for at least another decade.
Each no-sell scenario could throw a wrench into the WNBA’s desired expansion path for a Boston team, since the 75-mile territorial rights of each team would overlap with each other – Mohegan Sun Arena is about 90 miles from Boston.
Another scenario that could keep the Sun out of Boston would be for discussions to progress between the team and WNBA about the league buying the team and moving it to Houston.
None of these outcomes would please Healey.
What particularly rankles her is talk of the WNBA wanting to stick to its schedule of making Boston wait eight years to get an WNBA team.
“The league has been saying this is a timing issue and Boston needs to wait, and I don’t believe that Boston should wait,” said Healey in a phone call Wednesday. “Nor should the tribe have to wait. We’ve got women players right now, management, staff, and a women’s professional league that would benefit from this. Why people would stand in the way of that, I don’t understand. Again, it does nothing to take away from expansion opportunities or future expansion opportunities.”
League sources have expressed a mixture of frustration and surprise at the seemingly sudden interest from Boston in getting an WNBA team.
They point to how agreements struck between the Sun and Pagliuca and a Hartford ownership group would not hold up since the league has to approve any relocation attempt.
Pagliuca and Chisholm did not respond to the Globe’s request for comment.
The WNBA is owned by the NBA and, collectively among the teams and league, has never turned a profit since its founding in 1996. Now that the league is experiencing growth in attendance and attention, it is looking forward to getting a return on its investments and towards expansion. Six of its 13 current teams are owned by NBA owners, but NBA owners will be in the majority after Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia join the league by 2030. Houston’s expansion bid did not pan out in this past round, but the league is determined to bring a team back there.
WNBA owners share a portion of expansion fees, so there’s a business component to having Boston wait.
Eight years from now, the valuation of a Boston team would likely be much higher than the $250 million price tag the new expansion teams just paid and also the record $325 million price (plus $100 million more for a practice facility) Pagliuca and the Mohegan Tribe agreed to.
Another component in play mentioned by a league source is that the prior Boston ownership never expressed interest in a WNBA franchise in its 23 years, and that being interested now does not push them ahead of an expansion team wannabe like Houston.
Healey sees other interests at work rather than Boston going AWOL with its expansion applications.
“Let’s be really clear about that — what they’re saying to you is there are other NBA owners in line,” she said.
“Why is that the predicate? Why is that the conversation? This is a relocation, this is not an expansion. I understand the expansion process, and the league has got to have an eye on not diluting the quality of play and not expanding to too many new teams too quickly. They’ve had a thoughtful process about that. But this is not an expansion. This is a relocation of an existing team to a region that makes a lot of sense and is not going to detract from other potential expansion opportunities, including the recently awarded [expansion teams].”
Healey brought up the risks involved in the league waiting on Boston.
“We don’t know what things will look like in five years, let alone in seven years,” said Healey. “So take this opportunity now.
“This makes so much sense. It’s great for the players. It’s great for management. It’s great for the Sun. It’s great for the W. It’s great for the tribe who’s been at this for 20 years and losing money.”
She said she found a welcoming mind-set from Chisholm.
“I think that there is interest among new Celtics ownership in the game, I think they appreciate women’s sports and value women’s sports, and there’s an easy way to resolve this right here and now that doesn’t preclude owners in Houston or elsewhere in the existing WNBA to take advantage of expansion opportunities,” she said.
Whether or not her lobbying has her desired impact, it’s too soon to say.
But it’s not too soon for her to stop trying.
“I’m going to keep at this,” she said. “I’ve been talking about this for a couple years. I’ve expressed the desire to have a team here, and I do that knowing just how sports-crazy Boston and this region is, including for women’s basketball,” said Healey.
“There’s a lot that I’m working on, there’s a lot of stuff happening in the world, and I’ve got to tell you that for the last month, as I’ve gone around at every single event, somebody comes up to me, and the one thing they say is, ‘Let’s go get that W team, we want to see the WNBA here.’
“To me, this is where everybody is.”
Given that the Mohegan Tribe faced a $3.1 billion debt that raised “substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern” according to its last annual fiscal report in December 2024, the source familiar with the tribe’s thinking was asked if it could forego sale proceeds.
In May, the tribe refinanced all of its North American debt — it owns casinos in Las Vegas, New York, and Pennsylvania — and shed its new South Korea casino for a loss, said the source.
The net result is that the company is not in bad shape anymore.
Furthermore, the club’s announcement of its intention to sell the team in May was not related to the company’s overall financial position.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.
