OT: - Connecticut Sun hired investment bank Allen & Company to explore the sale of the franchise | Page 4 | The Boneyard

OT: Connecticut Sun hired investment bank Allen & Company to explore the sale of the franchise

CTBballfan243 said:
I recently read ( or saw on tv news ???) that the Celtics are exploring getting their own arena in Boston. They want more control of the arena revenue. Who knows, probably just a negotiation ploy with the Delaware North who owns the Bruins and the TD Bank Garden.
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Yes, that idea has been mentioned. The owners of the Gahden, are not even from the Boston area. The Jacob's family are from Buffalo. As to the building of the arena, a lot of hurdles will have to be jumped. City of Boston, state of Massachusetts specifically. Also, the NBA. The new owner of the Celtics will be on the hook for well over 500 million dollars, because of all the contracts and the NBA tax penalties. I'm not sure if they are willing to take on the WNBA franchise, in lieu of their situation.
 
Horsebrnhil said:
Yes, that idea has been mentioned. The owners of the Gahden, are not even from the Boston area. The Jacob's family are from Buffalo. As to the building of the arena, a lot of hurdles will have to be jumped. City of Boston, state of Massachusetts specifically. Also, the NBA. The new owner of the Celtics will be on the hook for well over 500 million dollars, because of all the contracts and the NBA tax penalties. I'm not sure if they are willing to take on the WNBA franchise, in lieu of their situation.
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You are assuming that the Celtics would be the owner of any WNBA franchise in Boston. Why couldn't some other investors own the WNBA franchise and contract for the use of TD Garden for their games?
 
If not Hartford I would be happy with relocating to Springfield and have The New England Blizzard.
 
Dogdude said:
Nice...Or something distinctly New England...The New England Lobster Rolls.
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If the Sun are sold it would probably be to one of the franchises that are looking for an expansion team. That way the league gets expansion into 2 new markets.
 
JoePgh said:
You are assuming that the Celtics would be the owner of any WNBA franchise in Boston. Why couldn't some other investors own the WNBA franchise and contract for the use of TD Garden for their games?
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Wasn't having WNBA teams in same cities as NBA teams supposed to drum up support. Mohegan Sun was one of the exceptions to the rule. Having a team based at the Casino was supposed to capitalize on two benefits. 1, The Casino and its gambling draw, and the State interest in Women's basketball, specifically UCONN Women's reputation. Because the Sun couldn't approach the winning successes of the UCONN Women's team, interest has waned. Would moving them to Boston, Springfield, or Hartford change anything?
Most likely no.
 
Horsebrnhil said:
Wasn't having WNBA teams in same cities as NBA teams supposed to drum up support. Mohegan Sun was one of the exceptions to the rule. Having a team based at the Casino was supposed to capitalize on two benefits. 1, The Casino and its gambling draw, and the State interest in Women's basketball, specifically UCONN Women's reputation. Because the Sun couldn't approach the winning successes of the UCONN Women's team, interest has waned. Would moving them to Boston, Springfield, or Hartford change anything?
Most likely no.
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The original reason was that the NBA teams often owned the arenas and already had a local infrastructure (management, marketing, sales) that could be repurposed for the W season for less additional cost.
 
Sun now valued at $180M

IMG_9384.jpeg
 
Vowelguy said:
No chance it goes to Springfield. Waaaay too small.
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While certainly drawbacks, why not relocate the Suns to NY? So what if there are two NY W teams? There's the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils, Giants and Jets, Knicks and Nets all surviving in a huge NY sports market. (And, really, the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT is not the NY market.) Would it take away from the Liberty's base? Maybe a little but the NY market seems big enough for two W teams. OK, ready to hear all reasonable objections.
 
Uh oh .Left out the two biggest rivalries: Yankees-Mets. A Liberty-Sun rivalry would be a healthy thing and bring out the NY fans on both sides.
 
WiseWillie said:
While certainly drawbacks, why not relocate the Suns to NY? So what if there are two NY W teams? There's the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils, Giants and Jets, Knicks and Nets all surviving in a huge NY sports market. (And, really, the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT is not the NY market.) Would it take away from the Liberty's base? Maybe a little but the NY market seems big enough for two W teams. OK, ready to hear all reasonable objections.
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For a small league, the point of expansion is to expand to new markets, bringing in new fans, TV audiences, and sponsors.

Not to mention that it would only dilute the Liberty support. If every game were selling out and driving scalpers prices to $500 then yes the market could support another team. Nowhere near that. Especially when there are so many untapped markets.
 
Forego said:
Yes. A large metropolitan area is required like Uncasville. :)
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When the teams were worth $3M, then the Mohegans could take a gamble on their location. Not to mention that at worst the team could be a loss leader — attracting people to the casino plus free regular advertising.

A $200M team is not going to choose to locate in Springfield. There’s no way it would make sufficient revenue to justify that investment.
 
Forego said:
Yes. A large metropolitan area is required like Uncasville. :)
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Well one thing to be considered is the Sun fans drag a lot of other revenue into the casino. I know I have to pry my wife away from the slots. We wouldn't be there otherwise.

BTW maybe the worst meal I ever ate was at "Geno's Fast Break" (no longer there). I had a partially frozen Philly cheese steak (what else would you order at "Geno's"?) Mrs. Skeets broke a tooth on some kind of chicken sandwich.
 
Vowelguy said:
For a small league, the point of expansion is to expand to new markets, bringing in new fans, TV audiences, and sponsors.

Not to mention that it would only dilute the Liberty support. If every game were selling out and driving scalpers prices to $500 then yes the market could support another team. Nowhere near that. Especially when there are so many untapped markets.
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There's only one arena for women's basketball in New York, Dolan already got rid of the Women's team in MSG.
 
Move them to Raleigh. Then change the team colors to Red Black and White. :cool:;):eek::rolleyes:

I kid. I kid.
 
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