The Connecticut Sun are bringing their talents to Boston.
TD Garden will host a WNBA regular-season game for the first time in league history on Aug. 20 when Connecticut takes on the Los Angeles Sparks for a 7 p.m. tip-off. The Sun – labeled as New England’s women’s basketball team – are hoping to lean into that identity and broaden their viewership to the Boston area.
“I think it’s important because New England has a rich sports history,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “It has a way of backing their teams. If we can expose the WNBA to a group of fans that might not have been exposed before, it’s an awesome opportunity for us.”
The Sun sold-out TD Garden with 19,156 tickets. The sellout is the third-highest attendance to a WNBA game so far this season, and the most-sold tickets to a Sun game in the franchise’s history.
Since returning from the Olympic break, the Sun sit second in the WNBA with an 19-6 record, only trailing the first-place New York Liberty. Led by All-Stars like DeWanna Bonner, Brionna Jones and Olympic gold-medalist Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut has reached the semifinals for four consecutive seasons and made it to the finals in 2022. The squad is hunting for its first franchise championship come playoffs in September.
The Sun originated in 1999 as the sister team to the NBA’s Orlando Magic, but were bought by the Mohegan Indian Tribe in 2003 which relocated them to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“I’m excited to go in there and show what the Connecticut Sun are all about,” Jones, who was drafted eighth overall by the Sun in 2017, said. “I think bringing the Connecticut Sun fan and brand to Boston and moving into a new marketing area – it’s exciting for women’s basketball in general to play at TD Garden, such a prestigious place to play at.”
Boston is a familiar stomping ground for Veronica Burton who was raised in Massachusetts and played high school basketball at Newton South. While the Sun point guard grew up a Celtics fan going to games at TD Garden, she never got the chance to play there.
“It’s incredible. Definitely means a lot just to be able to play at home in front of so many of my family and friends, obviously at an arena that you almost idolize growing up in Boston and the New England area,” Burton said.
Burton’s favorite Celtic was Rajon Rondo. As a fellow point guard, she said she tried to frame a lot of her own game around him and his IQ from the top of the key. Now, Burton has the chance to become a role model for another young girl in the crowd.
“You give them people to look up to, give them goals to achieve that they may not know or be aware of just because the spread of the WNBA is getting bigger and bigger,” Burton said. “If they see us, they can support us and they can know that they can also be at this level.”
Burton’s father, Steven Burton, has been a sports anchor and reporter for WBZ-TV for the last 30 years. Burton’s sister, Kayla Burton, joined NBC Boston as a multiplatform host in July and will be part of the broadcast for the Sun’s game at the Garden, marking a full-circle moment for the family.
NBC Sports Boston sealed a two-year partnership with the Sun in May 2023 – the channel now broadcasts a majority of the Sun’s games.
Including Tuesday’s matchup against the Sparks, the Sun have 14 regular-season games left before the playoff push begins on Sept. 22. The four-week Olympic break gave the team time to rest, recover and get consecutive practice time which is rare to come by in season. The players harped on the message that the break was not a time to relax, but instead a chance to come back stronger in the latter half.
The Sun’s TD-Garden debut will kick off this final stretch on a high note.
“We like to say in our league, and in women’s basketball in particular, if you watch us once you are going to come back,” White said. “When the ball goes up, it’s just another game. For us, we want to take advantage of every opportunity we have to showcase our league. We’re thankful and fortunate that it’s in a city that’s so close to where we’re located.”
