The WNBA is coming back to Houston.
The Connecticut Sun are being sold to the Fertitta family, which also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, a person with knowledge of the deal confirmed on Friday.
An official announcement is expected soon.
The deal, which had been discussed since December, will be for $300 million, ESPN and the Connecticut Insider reported. The team will play its final season in Connecticut in 2026 before moving to Houston. The deal’s finalization was first reported on Friday by Paper City Magazine.
The Houston Comets were one of the WNBA’s original eight teams when the league started in 1997. They won the first four league championships behind stars Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson — all three are in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Team owner Hilton Koch put the team up for sale in 2008 but didn’t get offers, leading the WNBA to take over the team and disband it in December 2008.
When Houston was left out of the WNBA’s latest round of expansion in June, commissioner Cathy Engelbert praised Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta as “a great supporter of the WNBA” and said the league will “stay tuned” on possibly bring a franchise back Houston.
Fertitta and the Rockets were in the running for an expansion team, but the league opted to go with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia instead, with all three ownership groups paying a $250 million expansion fee.
See here for the previous update. I was pretty optimistic when I saw that December story, as it sounded like a case of when and not if, and also that it was a near-term thing. Turns out that was correct. I look forward to the 2027 season for the rightful return of the WNBA to our fair city. Welcome back.