{"id":912,"date":"2025-05-14T16:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=912"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:10:33","slug":"mohegan-tribe-reportedly-shopping-wnba-connecticut-sun-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/14\/mohegan-tribe-reportedly-shopping-wnba-connecticut-sun-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohegan Tribe Reportedly Shopping WNBA Connecticut Sun Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Mohegan is said to be shopping the WNBA&#8217;s Connecticut Sun<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Sun have called Connecticut home since 2003<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>WNBA team valuations have soared in recent years<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Mohegan Tribe is reportedly considering unloading its Women&#8217;s National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise to quickly raise much-needed capital.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_352292\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-352292\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-352292 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Mohegan WNBA Connecticut Sun franchise\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/73385295007-usatsi-21530072-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>The Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty tip off on Sept. 29, 2023, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The Mohegan Tribe is reportedly fielding offers for the WNBA franchise it has owned since 2003. (Image: <em>USA Today<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Mohegan, the tribal and commercial gaming subsidiary of the Connecticut tribe, has seen its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-gaming-credit-profile-weakening-says-analyst\/\">credit profile weaken<\/a> in recent months after the largest investment in the company&#8217;s history by way of South Korea was largely a bust. In January, Mohegan warned it could default on its Korea Term Loan that it used to build its $1.6 billion Inspire Entertainment Resort at the Incheon International Airport.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Sports industry media outlet <i>Sportico <\/i>reports that Mohegan has contracted investment bank Allen &amp; Company to explore the sale of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/has-the-wnba-outgrown-connecticuts-mohegan-sun-arena\/\">Connecticut Sun<\/a>, a team the tribe has owned since 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">The Connecticut Sun won the WNBA Eastern Conference title in only the team&#8217;s second year. The Sun won their second and only other conference final the following year, but failed to win the WNBA Finals in both 2004 and 2005.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Though the Sun have reached the WNBA playoffs in each of the previous eight years, they&#8217;ve failed to return to the Eastern Conference Finals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>WNBA Valuations Soaring<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Mohegan Tribe acquired its WNBA team after the Orlando Magic ownership group, led by the DeVos family, the founders of Amway, opted to cease running the WNBA&#8217;s Orlando Miracle. Mohegan paid the WNBA $10 million to relocate the team to Uncasville and its new $40 million Mohegan Sun Arena.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Due to the Caitlin Clark effect and the expansion of legal sports betting heightening interest in women&#8217;s hoops, WNBA team valuations have soared in recent years. Last year, <i>Sportico <\/i>pegged the Connecticut Sun&#8217;s valuation at $80 million, third-lowest ahead of only the Dallas Wings ($75 million) and Atlanta Dream ($55 million).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Las Vegas Aces is the highest-valued WNBA team at $140 million. The Seattle Storm ($135 million), New York Liberty ($130 million), and Phoenix Mercury ($105 million) are the only other WNBA franchises valued at over $100 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Connecticut Sun plays in the smallest WNBA media market. The Connecticut Sun&#8217;s 20 home games at the 10K-seat Mohegan Sun Arena averaged a per-game attendance of 8,451 people. That ranked ninth among the 12 teams. Clark&#8217;s Indiana Fever led with an average attendance of more than 17K fans.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Sun players might be fine with Mohegan selling the organization. The <i>Hartford Courant <\/i>reported last fall that ahead of the Sun&#8217;s first home playoff game, the team was forced to practice on only half of its practice court because the tribe had rented out the other half for a two-year-old&#8217;s birthday party.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Higher team valuations have also led to higher overhead costs for owners, something in which Mohegan, which is predominantly focused on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-city-casino-biwould-offer-resort-equity-new-yorkers\/\">gaming<\/a> and hospitality business, might not be willing to invest.<\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Attractive Offering<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">With interest in the WNBA at an all-time high, Mohegan should have plenty of suitors for its offering. Allen &amp; Company, which is also handling the WNBA&#8217;s current expansion possibility, has received interest from more than 10 groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">The average WNBA team is valued at $96 million. The average NBA franchise is valued at almost $4.7 billion.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The 2025 WNBA season tips off on Friday. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-tribe-reportedly-shopping-wnba-connecticut-sun-franchise\/\">Mohegan Tribe Reportedly Shopping WNBA Connecticut Sun Franchise<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mohegan is said to be shopping the WNBA&#8217;s Connecticut Sun The Sun have called Connecticut home since 2003 WNBA team valuations have soared in recent years The Mohegan Tribe is reportedly considering unloading its Women&#8217;s National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise to quickly raise much-needed capital. The Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty tip off on Sept. 29, 2023, at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}