The panorama of the WNBA is altering rapidly amid an evolving ladies’s sports activities tradition and elevated funding within the league. One of many methods we’re seeing that is the way in which that groups are investing in participant therapy.
From superior restoration expertise like stick-on patches to trace electrolyte depletion, to chips in sneakers that monitor operating metrics and naturally, state-of-the-art observe amenities, groups are racing to carry out higher than their friends. Or, most groups are, anyway. Some are nonetheless in a state of not desirous to put money into issues like amenities with saunas and therapy rooms.
The end result? A mass exodus from these groups to franchises which have the amenities (and cash) to offer prime athletes what they need.
The Connecticut Solar have been on the forefront of this dialog for over a 12 months. In the course of the 2024 WNBA PLAYOFFS, it was revealed that the Solar had been kicked out of their observe gymnasium sooner than ordinary as a result of the house had been rented out for a toddler’s birthday celebration. A championship-contending workforce was practising in a neighborhood gymnasium whereas different WNBA groups have personal amenities with cooks and spa-like facilities.
As this race to be a free company vacation spot has pressured different possession teams to rapidly draw up blueprints for fancy amenities, the Mohegan Solar (the tribe that owns the Solar) didn’t appear . The workforce’s less-than-glamorous residence in Uncasville, Connecticut and residential area contained in the Mohegan Solar on line casino complicated was as soon as commonplace fare, however was now beginning to stop them from having the ability to appeal to or retain expertise.
So when the reviews got here out that the Connecticut Solar at the moment are on the market, it wasn’t stunning. Per Sportico, the Solar have introduced on funding financial institution Allen & Firm to facilitate the potential sale. The identical firm will likely be facilitating the potential sale of the Portland Path Blazers within the NBA.
That is hardly shocking, given the continuing criticism from gamers — most prominently Thomas, however others as effectively — about groups that lack devoted amenities. Think about watching your pals over in Vegas or Seattle observe of their attractive observe gyms and coaching rooms, in the meantime, you’re wrapping it up early for the Frozen-themed birthday celebration, ready exterior to arrange their tables and chairs? For some time, the thought of profitable a championship might have been purpose to stay it out, however after the Solar spent half a decade being unable to recover from the playoff hump regardless of making the semi-finals and finals yearly… it was getting previous.
Whereas not 100% confirmed, it appeared like Unequalled might have been the ultimate push for a few of Connecticut’s stars to resolve they had been accomplished with this therapy (or lack of). The beginning-up league based by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier boasted a aggressive wage and an on-site esthetician, together with a complete facility of state-of-the-art tools and restoration expertise. On prime of that, the gamers absolutely had an opportunity to speak and evaluate notes on how this therapy in comparison with what they had been getting with their WNBA groups.
The end result? Connecticut misplaced their total beginning lineup as the results of free company signings and trades, PLUS misplaced their esteemed head coach Steph White to her hometown Indiana Fever. Alyssa Thomas went to the Phoenix Mercury (amenities: verify), DeWanna Bonner went to the Indiana Fever (double verify), DiJonai Carrington and Ty Harris went to the Dallas Wings (engaged on it), Brionna Jones went to the Atlanta Dream (engaged on it). Marina Mabrey was left in Uncasville, requested a commerce herself, and was denied.
If WNBA house owners can not or just don’t need to put money into the expansion of their workforce to maintain up with the expansion of the league, these are the choices they’ve: Preserve the workforce and have a bunch of depressing gamers, not have the ability to appeal to free brokers, by no means win a championship… or promote.
Based mostly on these reviews, it appears doubtless that the Mohegan Solar will promote the workforce, after which the workforce will likely be moved out of Connecticut. Disappointing to a state with a ton of wealthy ladies’s basketball tradition, quite a bit as a result of longtime success of the UConn ladies’s program. But, it appears slightly inevitable when you’re competing with groups in markets like New York Metropolis, Los Angeles, the Bay Space and ultimately Toronto and Portland, amongst others. If I’m selecting which lottery-level WNBA workforce I’m going to play for, am I selecting the workforce in Uncasville or the workforce in energetic, enjoyable, stunning Toronto? You don’t should be a biased Torontonian like me to reply that simply.
This is also the reply to a possible growth workforce’s need to carry a workforce to their metropolis. The league has means fewer potential growth groups than there have an interest events, and shopping for a workforce to relocate it’s a workaround. The apparent first reply is shifting the workforce to Boston, because the franchise already has a connection to town and has held video games there prior to now. There’s a rising ladies’s sports activities tradition in Boston as effectively, with the PWHL’s Boston Fleet and the incoming Boston Legacy FC within the NWSL.
Different choices are the bid by Candace Parker and others to carry a WNBA workforce to Nashville. The proposed workforce could be named the Tennessee Summit after the legendary Tennessee Coach Pat Summit, who handed in 2016 from early-onset Alzheimer’s illness. There’s additionally curiosity in bringing a W workforce to Philadelphia and Denver, in addition to reviving folded WNBA groups just like the Houston Comets, Detroit Shock, Cleveland Rockers or Charlotte Sting.
For now, issues are enterprise as ordinary in Connecticut. This sale comes at a time when funding within the WNBA is at an all-time excessive. It was broadly publicized in 2024 that the going value for a WNBA workforce bid was $50 million when Larry Tannenbaum secured the bid to carry the Toronto Tempo into the league. Per Sportico, the Las Vegas Aces had been ranked No. 1 within the league’s Franchise Valuations at $140 million. The Atlanta Dream ranked final at $55 million, whereas the Connecticut Solar sit tied on the ninth spot, valued at $80 million. In 2003, when the Mohegan Tribe moved the workforce from Orlando to Uncasville, they paid $10 million.
