Gov. Ned Lamont is forging ahead with his call to invest pension funds in the Connecticut Sun basketball team, despite opposition by the largest state employee union.
Lamont said Monday that the opposition by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, known as AFSCME, has not changed his mind about the need for investing in a women’s professional basketball team in order to keep the team in Connecticut.
While the team’s future has been uncertain for months, Lamont has been working behind the scenes. He had previously declined to provide details on the amount of money that the pension fund might invest, but he said Monday that it would depend on the exact structure of the deal.
Saying that the market rate for the team is $325 million, Lamont said, “We would maybe do half of that and have others for the other half. If it’s a minority interest that keeps the team more or less where it is, our share would be obviously much less than that.”
The team currently plays at the Mohegan Sun Arena, but one of the proposals calls for the team to play in Hartford at the former XL Center, which is now known as the PeoplesBank Arena.
“The idea of having the Connecticut Sun play here in Connecticut, the birthplace of women’s basketball, is important,” Lamont said when asked by The Courant. “We’ve got several iterations in front of both the Mohegans and the NBA, with whom I’ve had personal conversations. We’ll see where that goes. I just urge everybody — it’s a little tough to negotiate this by press release or with 187 legislators. Give me a chance to see where we’re going to be, and then I’ll be sure that you’ll be at the front of the line to see if you want to do this deal or not.”
Gov. Ned Lamont has been working behind the scenes to keep the Connecticut Sun basketball team in the state. Here, he speaks to reporters during a news conference at the State Pier in New London, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, held in response to the Trump administration’s order to halt construction on the Revolution Wind project. A judge overturned that order and said that construction work can resume. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
Both AFSCME and Republican legislators have questioned using the state pension fund to invest in the team. While the size of the pension funds goes up and down each day with the stock market, the fund had $62.7 billion at the end of the 2025 fiscal year on June 30.
“State employees spend every day committed to the public, often at the cost of their health and safety, and their selfless service is what keeps Connecticut running,” AFSCME said on its website. “They deserve the certainty of a dignified retirement, not the uncertainty of high-stakes investments in political pet projects. Their pension contributions are the foundation of a secure retirement that workers have already earned. To use that money on a sports franchise is to gamble with the futures of those who have already sacrificed so much.”
The union continued, “These members have put their hard-earned money into the pension fund, expecting a secure retirement, not for it to be used on a sports franchise that plays 18 games a year in Connecticut. We urge the governor to leave the distractions behind and focus on preserving public services and respecting the state employees who provide them every day.”
Seeing the opposition by a union that strongly supports Democrats, Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield and fellow Republicans questioned Lamont about his position.
“When Republicans asked questions about using state employee retirement funds to invest in the Sun, Gov. Lamont said we were ‘booing from the sidelines’,” the Republicans said Monday in a statement. “Is the state employees union ‘booing’ as well, governor? Gov. Lamont said Republicans were ‘inserting politics’ into his ‘economic efforts’ and implied that Republicans don’t ‘care about’ Connecticut or the Sun. Do you accuse the state employees union of this as well, governor?”
Republicans called again for Lamont and the state legislature to create a strong oversight board because the state treasurer retains sole fiduciary authority over about $60 billion in pension investments.
“Pass Senate Bill 1557 and create a professional state pension investment board to share responsibility for investing state employee retirement funds, rather than vesting all that legal power in one individual,” Republicans told Lamont. “Currently, Connecticut is the only state that has a sole fiduciary as its elected state treasurer. It would be better for everyone to change that now, as it would give us all more confidence in state investment questions like this.”
CT Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield is concerned about the use of state pension money to help a women’s professional basketball team to remain in Connecticut. Here, he talks outside the Senate chamber on April 15 on the Republican walkout on the re-nomination of the PURA chairwoman Marissa Gillett, who has since resigned. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
Lamont and the union, which represents thousands of state employees, have both noted that the union has been working without a new contract since July.
“I think their concerns were probably more about a contract than the Connecticut Sun,” Lamont told reporters at an elementary school on Franklin Avenue in Hartford. “More importantly, it’s a good investment. I can tell you that the treasurer wouldn’t do a deal with the Connecticut Sun if it wasn’t a good investment.”
Lamont acknowledged the rollercoaster ride over the team’s future that involves the WNBA, NBA, Uncasville, Hartford and Boston, among others.
“It’s a little tricky,” Lamont said. “The league has very strict rules about whether it’s a new franchise or whether you’re moving the team. … I think we’re getting closer.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the complicated case does not make much sense because Connecticut has a strong fan base for women’s basketball.
“It’s a real head scratcher,” Blumenthal said. “If you said Connecticut should have no professional basketball team, people would look at you like you were nuts. We’re the basketball capital of the world, especially for the women’s sport. It defies logic and economic good sense. The WNBA’s position is driven by ego and bias that should have no place in this decision. … Uncasville and Hartford. There’s no way that the WNBA can argue that they’re not the same market. They’re 45 minutes apart.”
He added, “I just talked to the governor, and he seems to have some good reasons for thinking this investment would pay off for the pension fund and Connecticut.”
State treasurer Erick Russell has backed Lamont, saying his position has not changed.
“As always, any decision to invest state pension funds would be guided by the goal of achieving the best risk-adjusted returns for the retired teachers and dedicated state workers who depend on us for their retirement security,” Russell said.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam agreed, saying that the team’s value had increased 32 times in the past two decades from $10 million to the current market value of $325 million.
“You’ve seen a million teams move 45 minutes down the road, and no league makes a big fuss about it,” Arulampalam told The Courant on Monday. “When a team moves from the city to the suburbs or the suburbs into the city, nobody makes a big deal about it.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
