January 29, 2025 should be the tipping point that makes the league realize it’s time.
The WNBA has gotten too big for Uncasville, Connecticut.
Alyssa Thomas, the Connecticut Sun’s cornerstone and one of the best players in the league, departed via a sign-and-trade with Phoenix. She’s the latest star to push her way out of a franchise that can’t hold onto star players.
Back when the league was a hopeful enterprise that the NBA could also use as a tax write-off, playing at Mohegan Sun Casino was a good idea. Fans could come root for the team, have dinner and spend a couple of bucks on the gaming floor. Each fan had the potential to be three customers.
It also put a team in Connecticut, the home of some of the greatest women’s basketball fans in the country. UConn and its abundant supporters were on board for the women’s game decades before the rest of the world caught up. Not all of them embraced the Sun, but it certainly gave the franchise a head start.
But there’s a reason the NBA doesn’t have teams in Ft. Wayne and Syracuse anymore. The WNBA has outgrown Uncasville.
Mohegan Sun is fine for Indoor Lacrosse and could host Arena Football or even a G-League team someday. But the 9,000-seat arena and market are too small for where the WNBA is and where it’s going.
Connecticut Sun’s management has done a good job drafting and dealing to keep themselves near the top of the league, but there’s so little margin for error when their best players would rather be elsewhere.
Elite athletes don’t want to live in Middle of Nowhere, Connecticut, and the Sun doesn’t offer the amenities and resources their rivals are committing to the product.
“Honestly, Connecticut’s super behind when it comes to that,” Thomas told SB Nation. “I’ve been here 11 years, and yes, we’ve made changes, but a lot of things still have so much room for improvement.”
Thomas’ exodus follows Jonquel Jones and Tina Charles, two WNBA Most Valuable Players who each forced trades out of Connecticut to play in New York.
Thomas was frustrated earlier this year when a toddler’s party disrupted the Sun’s practice schedule.
“Mohegan has to do better,” Thomas told The Next Hoops. “We’re a professional team. We’re competing for playoffs. And yeah, to have to share your court with a two-year-old birthday party. Ultimate disrespect. … We need more, we need better to compete at the highest level.”
They could try Hartford. The XL Center is due for a $145 million renovation scheduled to be completed in 2026. They’d have to do some addition upgrades for the Sun.
According to NBC Connecticut, the current plan is designed to improve and expand seating:
“The upgrades will include additional capacity for seating at concerts and events held at the facility, along with an improved concourse and boxes, and general maintenance upgrades to make the XL Center more attractive to events and acts.”
Those are good things, but they don’t answer Thomas’ concerns. And Hartford would still be the smallest market in the WNBA.
The better move would be Boston. If last year’s game at TD Garden was an audition to gauge the city’s interest in the league, Boston passed the first test.
There would obviously be logistical hurdles to clear. There are ALWAYS logistical hurdles when it comes to making anything happen in Boston. Would the team get sold? WNBA franchises are fetching around $120 million these days. The Mohegan Tribe could try to continue to operate the team in Massachusetts or make 12 times their initial $10 million investment. TD Garden would likely welcome a summer tenant and Boston University, Boston College and Northeastern would all be among several possibilities to serve as practice locations.
Either way, the league has outgrown being something to do before and after blackjack. It’s earned its way onto bigger stages.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
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