The Connecticut Sun is a professional women’s basketball team that competes in the WNBA. However, this one-line introduction barely scrapes its 25-year history in the league and the rich heritage of its billion-dollar-worth tribal owners. Yes, you read it right. The Sun is the only team in the WNBA to be owned by a Native American tribe – the Mohegan Tribe. But this isn’t how the Eastern Conference team began its story in the WNBA.

Before being relocated to Connecticut, the team was founded as the Orlando Miracle, a sister team to the NBA’s Orlando Magic. They were one of two teams (the other was Minnesota) to enter the league during its expansion in 1999 from 10 to 12 teams. But only 3 years into existence, financial troubles consumed them. It was then that the federally recognized Mohegan Tribe stepped in as saviors.

Orlando Miracle to the Connecticut Sun – the Mohegan Tribe’s trailblazing WNBA venture

On October 21, 2002, the Orlando Miracle announced a city relocation for the 2003 season. 3 months later, on January 28, 2003, the Mohegan Sun, a casino operated by the Mohegan Tribe held a big fan festival to announce Connecticut as the new destination for the Miracle. To reflect the change, the team was rebranded to the Sun. With this monumental acquisition, the Mohegan tribe became the first Native American tribe to own a sports team, and the first non-NBA owner of a WNBA team.

The rebranding efforts carried into March of that year. As per the Sun’s website, on March 27, they ditched the signature Orlando blue to reveal a new logo and colors “featuring a fiery orange sunburst, a WNBA basketball and a blue ribbon with four white semicircular domes, which is a modern interpretation of an ancient Mohegan symbol and represents the four corners of the earth under the sky dome.”

The Mohegan Sun Arena, located in the casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, became their home venue. In 2021, the WNBA also honored the tribe during the league’s 25th-year celebration. They revealed 3 looks for each of the 12 teams to tell the stories of “female archetypes” in each team’s communities. Nike initiated this campaign in collaboration with the Mohegans and the WNBA.

The Mohegans beam with pride in a pivotal WNBA campaign

The Nike x WNBA campaign was a statement of intent from the Mohegans. Lynn Malerba, the tribe’s first female chief, and also the USA’s treasurer, said, “The jerseys are important because there has been so much cultural appropriation and also just a lack of understanding of truly what it means to be native in this country. We own this narrative. This is our narrative and we are the only ones that can tell it,” she emphasized strongly.

Vice Chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders, Beth Regan, also stressed the importance of the women in the WNBA and what they represent. “Women in our tribe have always played a very essential leadership role. And so we see our women’s basketball team as leaders in social justice, just as our most admired former female tribal leaders were as well,” she said.

Regan is an avid Connecticut Sun fan and her passion was displayed in her explanation of the jersey’s ode to the Mohegans. She described the color blue in the new jerseys as being representative of their medicine woman, Gladys Tantaquidgeon. The word Keesusk on the Sun jersey is the Mohegan word for Sun. The piping and edging on the sleeves represented the Mohegan life trails. The ups and downs on the design stood for the rolling hills from where the tribe hails.

After the brief description of the jersey’s intricate design, Regan concluded, saying, “It was a real collaborative effort with the tribal council, our elders, the chief, and our medicine woman, who all had some voice in this.” In an age where sports teams received flak for including Native American names and symbols, the Connecticut Sun’s jersey additions stood out as an exemplary example of respectable rebranding.

Now you might be wondering why the Mohegans only own one sports team even after showing immense competency in both business and team performance. Well, they did indeed.

The Mohegan Tribe’s billion-dollar projects and Lacrosse ownership

The Mohegan Sun casino has been the major revenue source for the tribe. Their net revenue reached $1.67 billion in 2023, which was its second-best year in 27 years. Though their exact net worth isn’t confirmed, as of 2021, they generated $25.4 billion in net revenue. In the last quarter of 2023, they even spent $1.6 billion in opening Inspire, a resort/casino, in South Korea. As per The Day, the Mohegan Sun attracts 9 million visitors a year.

With such capital build-up, the Mohegans also invested in being part owner of the New England Black Wolves, a National Lacrosse League (NLL) franchise. The Black Wolves, like the Connecticut Sun, also played in the Sun Arena in Uncasville. However, 2020 marked the last season for the Black Wolves, who never returned to the league. As a result, the Mohegan Tribe sold its stake and the new owners rebranded the team to the Albany FireWolves.

However, this wasn’t an indication of failed ownership on the Mohegans’ part. In fact, the tribal owners created history in the WNBA by making the Connecticut Sun the first-ever profitable team in the league’s history in 2007. This also gave incentive for the WNBA to award the Mohegan Sun to host the All-Star games in 2005 and 2009.

It is very fascinating how inexperienced basketball team owners became a game-changer in the sport. This was also possible because of the deep relationships that they built with each individual on the team. Here’s former Sun Power Forward Chiney Ogwumike’s heartfelt statement from 2018 to sum up why the Mohegans succeeded big.

“Usually, the demographics of who plays the sport of basketball are different than the ownership. Well, we’re actually one and the same,” Ogwumike said. “Our league is primarily African-American. And Native Americans for so long, you know, in the history of our country have been considered, you know, at the same class if not even worse. To be a part of Mohegan and an honorary member of the Tribe, they say we’re like adopted daughters … In our big family of the WNBA, we stand out.”