Commissioner Says WNBA Has Not Received Expansion Bid From Boston

NEW YORK - WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Monday the WNBA has yet to receive a bid from any group trying to put a franchise in Boston. 

Engelbert spoke to a group from the Associated Press Sports Editors at NBA headquarters. 

Boston has long been thought to be a prime destination for a WNBA franchise. 

The Sun sold out a game last year at TD Garden against the LA Sparks and will visit the arena this upcoming season to face Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. 

WNBA fever has spread to Boston. 

A group led by Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Carter-Williams has been reportedly working on a bid for a potential expansion team. The effort has the backing of Gov. Maura Healey. The WNBA is on track to add expansion teams with teams in San Francisco (Golden State), Portland, and Toronto starting in the next two years. Cleveland is expected to join the WNBA roster as its 16th team in 2028. 

The WNBA's Golden State Valkyries debut this upcoming season. 

The group led by Wahlberg and Williams is called Boston Women’s Basketball Partners. The group would have to go through the formal process to apply for a team and then receive approval from the league’s other owners.

But the Sun remains in opposition to any other WNBA franchise in New England.

“I don’t want another WNBA franchise in Boston,” Pineault told Bookies.com in an exclusive interview last fall. “As the league grows, we’re going to continue to see growth. We get Massachusetts and Rhode Island fans who come to our games now. I wouldn’t be a big fan of having a Boston team. I do think we’re going to continue to work in Boston. We want to bring our product to Boston. We want more Massachusetts fans to see the product that we’re putting on the floor. I’m a Celtics fan, and I drive up to Massachusetts from Connecticut to go see the Celtics. I want people from Massachusetts to feel the same way about coming to see the Connecticut Sun.”

Sun Opposed to NBA Team in Boston But Cannot Prevent It

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday the Sun have a 75-mile "marketing zone" that does not include the Boston area. He added that the Sun cannot prevent other WNBA teams from marketing with that zone. 

"Boston is a league market," Silver said. "The Sun cannot prevent a team from expanding to Boston. But they can vote to oppose it." 

The old NFL blackout rule also extended to 75 miles. The Sun's home court in Uncasville, Connecticut, is 105 miles from TD Garden. 

Pineault is in favor of the league’s current expansion plans. NBA franchises in Golden State and Portland can help support the league’s growth on the West Coast.

But he believes the number of teams in the New England/New York region to be sufficient.

“There are protections within franchise-protected areas. The League would have to get the franchise owners within those regions to agree to it, but the League is going to continue to expand and grow. (Golden State, Portland, and Toronto have been approved for new franchises)," Pineault told bookies.com. "I think that is the right thing to do. However, they also want to get into other parts of the United States. They're in the Northeast with us and New York right now, but they're not really on the West Coast as much. They have the LA Sparks, and that's really it. To expand and bring more people in, bring more regions in, is the right thing for the league to continue to do.”

The Sun has never won a WNBA championship. The WNBA Finals are expanding to 7 games this season. The Sun has a well-earned reputation for success in the regular season and bittersweet exits in the postseason. It fell to the Minnesota Lynx 3-2 in the WNBA semifinals this past season. They missed the WNBA Finals by one game in 2020, as well. They made it to the WNBA Finals in 2022 but got aced out by Las Vegas in 4 games. And they fell one win short of a WNBA title 5 years ago.