The WNBA Mob Screwed Marginalized Americans for (at Least) $25 Million
- Fred
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
In the NFL, there are only 2 minority owners, Shahid Khan (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Kim Pegula (Buffalo Bills).
In the NBA, there are only 2 minority owners, Vivek Ranadivé (Sacramento Kings) and Joseph Tsai (Brooklyn Nets).
In MLB, there is only 1 minority owner, Arte Moreno (Los Angeles Angels).
In the NHL, Kim Pegula is still listed as the Buffalo Sabres' co-owner.
Of the 4 major sports, that's the list of minorities with majority ownership stakes.
As the WNBA tries to elevate their status to a major sport through diversity initiatives, it's interesting to note that they are pushing out the ownership group that represents the most marginalized Americans, the Native Americans, and kicking them in the ass on their way out the door.
Of course I'm talking about the Mohegan Tribe, the owners of the Connecticut Sun.
David Stern firmly believed in the concept that a rising tide lifts all boats. He promoted the sport of basketball and was the driving force behind the conception of the WNBA 1997. The league's inaugural season had 8 teams, all which were owned by the NBA and run by NBA franchises.
The local Cleveland Rockers were one of the Original 8 teams in the WNBA in 1997. They survived 6 years before folding in 2003. Number of Rockers games the author went to?
ZERO, despite many, many ticket giveaways.
In the year 2002, the Orlando Miracle were having many of the same problems as the Rockers, and were all but dead when the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut rescued the team, rebranded them as the Connecticut Sun, and became the first non-NBA entity to own a WNBA team. The Mohegan Tribe were the first investors to believe in the WNBA outside of the NBA's inner circle.
From 2003-2025, the Connecticut Sun was a very good WNBA franchise, compiling a 450-342 record, while making the playoff in 15 of their 22 seasons. Now 2025, let's be honest, that wasn't a great season, but there was "war and rumors of war" as the team was for sale.
According to ESPN, the minority owner of the Boston Celtics, Steve Pagliuca, had a deal in place to buy the Sun for $325 million and to move the team to Boston. The sale would have kept the team in the "NBA Family," the team would have stayed in the Connecticut Region, less than a 2 hour drive away, and Pagliuca had pledged another $100 million to the team's infrastructure. The WNBA nixed the deal because Pagliuca didn't go through the WNBA's expansion process.
Then, according to the Hartford Courant, former Milwaukee Bucks Owner, Marc Lasry, had a deal in place to buy the Sun for $325 million and to move the team to Hartford. The sale would have kept the team in the "NBA Family," the team would have stayed in the Connecticut Region, less than a 1 hour drive away, and Lasry pledged another $100 million to the team's infrastructure. The WNBA nixed the deal because Lasry didn't go through the WNBA's expansion process.
Then, according to ESPN, current Houston Rockets Owner, Tilman Fertitta, had a deal in place to buy the Sun for $300 million (with no relocation fee) and to move the team to Houston. The sale would keep the team in the "NBA Family," but the team would leave the Connecticut Region, and the team would simply use Houston Rockets' facilities. The WNBA approved the sale because....
Because....
And here's where the WNBA Mob Analogy comes in.
Right now, WNBA Franchises are hot. Locally, Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert just paid $250 million for an expansion team to start playing in 2028. Why Cleveland? “Cleveland hits all the marks, and it’s both quantitative and qualitative,” said (Kara) Nortman, pointing to the Cavaliers receiving the NBA’s Team of the Year and Inclusion Leadership Award honors earlier this year. “From the first seconds we started talking to the team, it was the nuance of how everyone showed up and was curious. ‘Here’s what works on the men’s side, let’s debate what could work on the women’s side.’ That’s not something you find everywhere.”
What does that have to do with the Sun?
In the year 2030, with the addition of the Philadelphia Franchise, the WNBA will swell to 18 teams. The WNBA wants a team in the Boston area, but they also want that quarter-of-a-billion dollar Expansion Fee.
By guiding the franchise out of New England, the WNBA now gets a team in the 6th largest TV market (Houston), while opening up Boston as a potential 19th to 24th expansion team.
But in the process, they screwed a bunch of Native Americans by making the Mohegan Tribe take the worst deal, monetarily, and the worst deal for WNBA fans in Connecticut and Rhode Island Region.
Who cares about Women's Basketball Fans in Connecticut?
Uh, the University of Connecticut is only a 45 minute drive from Montville, Connecticut. The Huskies are the winningest Women's College Basketball team in NCAA history. Their coach is Geno Auriemma, who has a record of 1,288 -165 and has led his team to 12 National Championships. There are many women's college basketball fans that also gravitated to the Sun.
And, to make the optics even worse, the WNBA jammed the Mohegan Tribe in favor of a White Man, the aforementioned Tilman Fertitta, who is a member of the Donald Trump Administration. (Not Kidding.) That's not very diversity-minded.
Just a reminder, in the year 2010, when the WNBA had contracted to 12 teams, and was in real danger of folding, the Mohegan Tribe stood by the league in a way few NBA owners did.
In the old days, the White Man would quietly pay millions to make bad press go away.
Let's see if the WNBA is smart enough to make a large donation to the American Indian College Fund in the near future.
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