Sun set to return to Uncasville in 2026: Shocked, but not that shocked

It’s not necessarily a sure thing quite yet, but Tuesday brought the somewhat surprising news that it appears the Connecticut Sun will have at least one last ride in 2026 playing at Mohegan Sun Arena.

If you’ve followed along here, it’s a lot less surprising than it would have been a few months ago. 

When the Mohegan Tribe announced it was looking to sell the team on the eve of the 2025 regular season in May, connecting the dots seemed pretty simple: a) the Sun’s facilities and market size were no longer compatible with the modern WNBA; b) Boston is the No. 7 market in the country (it will be the largest not to have an WNBA team once Philadelphia joins the fray) and is nearby; c) a seeming trial run in 2024 went tremendously with the Sun selling out a game against Los Angeles at TD Arena with 19,156 fans in attendance.

But subsequently, it was come out that things are not so simple. That game (and the contest last week) were organized almost exclusively by the Sun, who were just renting the arena for a night. And that’s a much different proposition than moving there full-time. With the Bruins and Celtics already calling the arena home, and it being a big venue for concerts (Linkin Park for two shows next week, let’s go) and a host of other things, the idea of bringing a WNBA team for 22 home dates in a 19,000-seat arena has been given the cold-ish shoulder by some the brass in charge. 

Also hurting Boston’s cause is its lack of a secondary arena that could meet modern WNBA standards like we see in places like Phoenix, Dallas, Washington, or even Las Vegas. The best idea could be something like Boston College’s Conte Forum, but that’s not exactly new and sharing with Boston College would be problematic. 

Add the fact that any Boston groups to potentially buy the franchise have been disorganized and/or scared off by a price tag that could exceed $200 million, and we have reached an impasse on the Sun to Boston trail. And with no end to the gridlock in sight and time tick tick ticking away in preparation for 2026, the only thing to do was to give it at least one more year.

Boston’s inability has seemed to open the door for Providence and Hartford to be a permanent home for the Sun. Ironically, maybe five years ago, that might have had a better chance of working. Providence has the Amica Mutual Center (formerly Dunkin Donuts’ Center and Providence Civic Center), which is a perfect size for a WNBA franchise and sits largely vacant in the summer months. Governor Dan McKee has tepidly gotten behind it, but there doesn’t seem to be any strong group willing to step forward in any way as of yet, despite the pleas of my old friend Dan McGowan, who would certainly love the Sun there.

It’s not that far from Boston, obviously, and people in Providence may jump through their phones upon reading this, but is it that much different than Uncasville in practice for the WNBA, which just added Toronto, Cleveland, and Portland, and has the players clamoring for cities such as Miami or Nashville?

Which brings to Hartford and the OG PeoplesBank Arena (formerly the XL Center and the Hartford Civic Center), which helped lead the ABL in attendance way back in the 20th century, and might actually be a sleeper to keep the Sun in Connecticut if everything goes their way. Governor Ned Lamont hinted at a former NBA owner leading the way for a team that could make a bid for the Sun, but that’s all we have so far.

The arena is not new by any stretch, but - largely to keep UConn coming - big renovations have been announced that could help it seem a bit more modern. If it ended up in Hartford, the franchise could throw a few games Boston’s way that would help it stay in the loop without clogging up the entire summer for TD Garden. The Mohegan Tribe has also said publicly they would like to sell to a group that would keep the franchise in Connecticut, which you can believe on its face or not, and the only logical place is Hartford.

Still, there doesn’t appear to be anything resembling a concrete plan for now, and that steep price tag may make it difficult to find a buyer, especially because Hartford’s track record for professional sports is spotty at best, and - like Providence - it would be another small market for the WNBA.

History doesn’t guide us too much in these spots, except possibly to show how much difficult is might be to make a sale and move. The last WNBA franchise to relocate were the San Antonio Stars, who were bought for a reported $10 million by MGM in 2017 after the season and went to Las Vegas. MGM unloaded the Aces in 2021 to Raiders owner Mark Davis, who got an absolute steal at $2 million, but pumped a bunch of money into a new practice facility and got almost immediate results with two WNBA titles (it helped to have Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson as well).

While the Las Vegas story (and maybe Caitlin Clark, obviously) is the one is most appealing to people that might want to plunk down a few million dollars on a franchise, the more relevant one to the current Sun situation might be the relocation of the Tulsa Shock to Dallas nearly a decade ago to the day. The franchise moved from Detroit to Tulsa in 2010, hoping to use the old formula of finding a good college market to be a “big fish in a small pond”, the only professional franchise that the people could rally around.

Odyssey Sims playing for the Tulsa Shock in a largely empty BOK Center (Getty Images)

But it didn’t work. The Shock were last in WNBA attendance in every year but their last (with San Antonio, the Sun were third to last in 2015 as well), and were pretty awful on the court as well (ironically, except for the the final season). The new arena (the BOK Center) was beautiful and had great amenities, but was way too big (19,000 capacity) and was cavernous for games. The market (currently No. 61, Hartford is actually No. 30 and Providence No. 52 for those scoring at home) was too small to attract free agents, although I guess we’ll never know if the team was winning games what might have happened (Skylar Diggins is the only current active player to have played in Tulsa).

Dallas was much bigger (No. 5), had a brand new College Park Arena in Arlington that was a perfect size for the WNBA (it might be too small now, ironically, but that’s a discussion for another day), an arena I visited when it first opened for my job in a previous life.

And so the Shock were no more, just as the Sun might be soon. Unlike Tulsa, Connecticut has had plenty of success in the WNBA, but this year will not, and as much as there is excitement over the rookies, we’ll see what attendance looks like in the final two months (I was able to afford a pretty good seat for tonight’s Los Angeles game). Like Tulsa, trying to get free agents to come to Uncasville may be next to impossible this off-season, especially with the chaos of the collective bargaining agreement looming over everything.

All of which led the Mohegan Tribe to pause at the moment, allow things to settle, and presumably reboot the sale talks once everything settles and the 2026 season approaches. On the court, it will create plenty of uncertainty, although as we’ve pointed out, the players that should be part of the Sun’s long-term future - Saniya Rivers, Aneesah Morrow, Leila Lacan, Olivia Nelson-Ododa - are all locked up for next year at least, even if it may continue to be a struggle on the court. What will attendance look like next season, and - like Tulsa - will it make it easier to pull the trigger on a move?

But by the winter - when hopefully (cross our fingers) the players get what they deserve and we have a new collective bargaining agreement - there may be plenty of suitors for the franchise. Can Boston get its act together and find legitimate buyers that can find a way to get TD Garden on board? Is there a group in Hartford or Providence that can find the funds and convince the WNBA that they are viable long-term for the vision the league has going forward? Or will it be Miami or Nashville or Denver?

Perhaps the only thing certain is that, barring something completely unforeseen, the Mohegan Tribe is going to get paid. Everything else will have to play out, and we still know eventually the most likely outcome by far is the Sun moving somewhere bigger and more equipped for the modern WNBA.

However, an encore season to really say farewell to Mohegan Sun Arena isn’t so bad.