Sports Business | The GIST

Connecticut Sun sold to Houston ownership with plans to revive vintage Comets franchise

On Friday, the Mohegan Tribe — the longtime ownership group of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun — reportedly sold the team to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and family for a record $300M. The move solidified months of speculation that the W would steer the sale toward Houston after the league reportedly denied Boston’s even higher bid for $325M.

March 31, 2026

Overtime’s first-of-its-kind UConn partnership heralds a new era of NIL brand integration

🏀

This month, Gen Z–focused basketball media company Overtime (OT) announced a content partnership with UConn women’s basketball — a first-of-its-kind deal for college sports. While embedded content studios aren’t new, head of OT Select and women’s basketball Sascha Malas told us earlier this month that universities haven’t partnered directly with media companies before.

March 28, 2026

Denver Summit FC arranges a $40M private placement in historic first for women’s sports

⚽

On Monday, Mesirow Capital Markets — an independent, employee-owned financial services firm — arranged a $40M private placement (or private bond financing plan) for Denver Summit FC, the Denver-based NWSL expansion club set to break attendance records at its home opener this weekend.

March 26, 2026

Kim DeCarolis and Terése Whitehead explain the power of women athletes in NIL marketing

With March Madness finally here, we spoke with Terése Whitehead and Kim DeCarolis, who lead NIL and commercial strategy at Michigan and Georgia, respectively. Both are embedded on campus through their work with Altius Sports Partners, which launched in 2020 and has quickly become a leading strategic advisor for college athletic departments.

March 24, 2026

How the Bhathal family is running Portland

⚽🏀

The Bhathals are changing how the women’s sports game is played, from building the first-ever dual WNBA and NWSL practice facility to creating the first local channel dedicated to women’s sports. That synergy is helping the teams become a major draw for high-profile brand deals. This week, we spoke with Bhathal Merage in a rare interview ahead of her appearance at the Power Play Sports Sponsorship Accelerator about the benefits of owning both teams, both from an ownership and sponsorship perspective. As she put it, “one plus one equals five.” The math is mathin’.

March 20, 2026

WNBA CBA agreement is a win for league, players, and brand partners

🏀

The WNBA and WNPBA reached a verbal agreement on their CBA yesterday, just 51 days before season tip-off. The news is considered a major win for both parties as well as W fans, but there are other players at stake with a lot pinned on the success of this deal: The W’s confirmed and prospective brand partners. Let’s explore what this new CBA means for everyone.

March 19, 2026

Bank of America Institute shares new data insights on women’s sports fans

This week, the Bank of America Institute — the bank’s internal think tank that analyzes consumer behaviors and trends from customer data — shared insights into how customers are engaging around women’s sports. The data supports trends we’ve seen, with these new numbers further strengthening the business case for women’s sports. Let’s dive in.

March 19, 2026

The Sports Bra teams up with WPBA to support storytelling, community around women’s basketball developmental league

Sports Business

The Sports Bra teams up with WPBA to support storytelling, community around women’s basketball developmental league

🏀

March 17, 2026

The Sports Bra and the Women’s Premier Basketball Association (WPBA) — a developmental women’s league similar to the NBA’s G League — announced a strategic partnership that will use the sports bar’s reach among women’s sports fans to promote the WPBA as it looks to strengthen relationships with the WNBA and sponsors.

Read Full Story

The GIST of It Podcast

Ep #543

Unpacking the drama of the Connecticut Sun sale

March 31, 2026

Listen on Apple Music Listen on Spotify

Unpacking the drama of the Connecticut Sun sale

It’s official.

The historic Houston Comets are back in the WNBA — but the news came with a heaping dose of drama. Instead of awarding Houston a 2027 expansion team, the WNBA is relocating the Connecticut Sun to Houston, where they’ll be rebranded as the Comets, an original (and very successful) W franchise. Needless to say, while some folks are thrilled to see a great WNBA team rise from the dead, others (namely fans of the Connecticut Sun) aren’t exactly pleased. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Steph Rotz and Lauren Tuiskula provide crucial context on the historic sale and share their thoughts on the W’s latest move.