Engelbert hints WNBA could return to New England

Engelbert hints – WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert says she can imagine the league considering an expansion bid from a New England ownership group after Hartford and Boston games. Her comments come as the Connecticut Sun were sold to Tilman Fertitta for about $300 million and

The Hartford-to-Boston shuffle may be a temporary fix for the WNBA’s New England footprint, but the commissioner hinted it could become something bigger.

On Thursday night in Portland, Oregon—before the Fire played the Las Vegas Aces—WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told a group of reporters she could see a future in which the league considers an expansion bid from a New England-based ownership group.

“Great fanbase,” Engelbert said of the Connecticut Sun. She pointed to the team’s schedule—“I think they’re going to do a couple of games in Hartford this year. another game in Boston … New England is a great market for sports.” She then laid out a timeline rather than a promise: “So. yeah. do I foresee in the 2030s. if we were to do expansion again. them being part of the process. that region?. Yes.”.

That was the moment the league’s real tension surfaced: the WNBA is moving away from New England as a full-time presence, yet Engelbert is leaving the door open for it to come back as a broader market pitch.

This week’s backdrop is a major ownership shake-up in Connecticut. Earlier this spring, the Mohegan Tribe sold the Connecticut Sun to Texas-based billionaire Tilman Fertitta for a reported $300 million. Fertitta, who is the current U.S. Ambassador to Italy, also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets. His stated plan is to move the WNBA team to Houston and revive a Comets franchise that won four titles.

Engelbert. however. made clear the league’s earlier expansion rounds did not reflect New England’s appeal in the end result. She reiterated that the WNBA did not receive a bid from any Boston ownership group during the league’s last rounds of expansion. when franchises were awarded to Golden State. Toronto. Portland. Philadelphia. Cleveland and Detroit.

Her remarks also reached back to why New England didn’t come out on top last time—and why the path could look different if ownership changes hands again. The Mohegan Tribe began exploring a sale of the Sun in early 2025. The tribe was reportedly close to completing two separate deals before the sale ultimately went to Fertitta—first to Boston Celtics’ minority owner Steve Pagliuca and then to former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry.

Both proposed sales failed to get WNBA approval. Pagliuca wanted to move the team to Boston. Lasry wanted the team to remain in Connecticut while playing in Hartford.

Fertitta’s interest had already been on the WNBA radar. He first publicly expressed interest in bringing the WNBA back to Houston in 2024. and he submitted a bid for an expansion franchise—but was not chosen. The Comets. which the team seeks to revive. were one of the WNBA’s original eight teams when the league launched in 1997. Under Naismith Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor. the Comets won the first four WNBA championships. powered by three Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame players: Cynthia Cooper. Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson.

The Sun’s own history has shifted too many times to ignore what’s at stake now. The franchise was originally the Orlando Miracle, playing in Florida from 1999 to 2002 before relocating to Uncasville, Connecticut in 2003.

After the commissioner addressed New England’s future, the conversation turned to the league’s present controversies. Engelbert said she didn’t have an update on the WNBA’s investigation into the Las Vegas Aces circumventing the salary cap. She added that the WNBA is planning to do a one-month check-in soon with the game council and officiating committee.

The sequence of decisions—expansion rounds without Boston bids. two Sun deals that were not approved. and the league now tracking a salary-cap investigation—leaves fans with a question that cuts across both business and competitive fairness. New England may be losing a longtime home base. but the league’s own leadership is openly thinking about how that region could re-enter the picture later.

For now, Engelbert is pointing to the games scheduled in Hartford and Boston this year, while framing the larger return as something that would come, if it happens, “in the 2030s.”

WNBA Cathy Engelbert Connecticut Sun Tilman Fertitta Houston Comets Mohegan Tribe expansion bid New England Hartford Boston Las Vegas Aces salary cap investigation game council officiating committee