Is Rhode Island still in the mix as the next home of the Connecticut Sun? Here's the latest

Is Rhode Island still in the mix as the next home of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun?

After reports surfaced on Saturday, Aug. 2 that former Boston Celtics minority owner and Bain Capital executive Steve Pagliuca recently purchased the team for a record $325 million, with another $100 million earmarked to build a dedicated practice facility for the team in Boston, the league pushed back that a move to Boston was a done deal.

“Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams. As part of our most recent expansion process, in which three new franchises were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration," the WNBA said in a statement.

"No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston. Celtics’ prospective owner Bill Chisholm has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time."

Then, on Sunday, Aug. 3, Pagliuca seemed to keep the door open for Rhode Island.

In his post on X Sunday night, Pagliuca wrote that "An investor group led by PagsGroup, and supported by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy and Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, has offered to acquire the Connecticut Sun with the objective of keeping New England's WNBA team in New England. No transaction has been agreed yet."

On July 11, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee reportedly met at the Amica Mutual Pavilion to discuss the possibility of relocating the Connecticut Sun to Providence. The Sun is one of the few remaining teams in the league without a dedicated practice facility, using their home arena for both training and games.

A statement on Aug. 2 from McKee spokeswoman Laura Hart said: "We have made our interest to work with the team known and are open to future conversations about a potential role for Providence."

The Mohegan Tribe bought the team for $10 million in 2003 and moved it from Orlando to its home for the last 22 years. The Sun play at Mohegan Sun Arena, located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort, which seats 10,000 for basketball. In the past two seasons, the Sun played a regular-season game apiece at Boston's TD Garden, both to sell-out crowds. The Garden has a capacity of 19,000 for basketball.

If the Sun were to move to Providence, their season, which runs from May to September, would coincide with several dates typically available downtown. The Providence Bruins open their regular season in October and finish in April — only an extended run in the Calder Cup playoffs would create any overlap. The Providence College men’s basketball team plays its home games between November and March, heading off to the Big East Tournament about two months before the women would take center stage.

Connecticut most recently went to the WNBA Finals in 2019 and 2022 and has been to the playoffs in each of the past eight seasons, the league's longest active postseason appearance streak. This season, the Sun have the WNBA's worst record at 5-21.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI still in mix as next home of the WNBA's Sun. Here's the latest