August 21, 2025 • 33 mins
Money, money, money.
Always funny in a rich man’s world — like the WNBA, where the Connecticut Sun’s potential sale is causing some serious drama. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz break down a new report from ESPN that details the behind-the-scenes moves as the league’s smallest market tries to find a new home. From potential buyers in new cities to the W’s plan to move the team whenever they like, it’s messy, messy, messy. Buckle up.
Show notes:
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🐦 X: @thegistpod
Always funny in a rich man’s world — like the WNBA, where the Connecticut Sun’s potential sale is causing some serious drama. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz break down a new report from ESPN that details the behind-the-scenes moves as the league’s smallest market tries to find a new home. From potential buyers in new cities to the W’s plan to move the team whenever they like, it’s messy, messy, messy. Buckle up.
Show notes:
Subscribe to The GIST newsletter
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's up, y'all. Welcome and welcome back to another episode
of The Gist of It. Today is Thursday, August twenty first.
Happy birthday, John Hisslop. If you are listening, we're your
co hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Ellen Hisslop and I'm Steph Rad's Happy birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Everyone go wish my dad happy birthday. The LEO king
that he is not sure if he's going to be
listening to the podcast on his birthday or not, but
I feel like he might, Steph because famously, my dad
loves sports, taught me basically everything that I know, and
desperately wants to work at The Gist and be on
the podcast. Every time I report the podcast from my
(00:46):
parents' house, he always finds a way to come into
the background and wave to Steph, or wave to my colleagues,
or do whatever he can. And today's episode is similar
scene to what we've been talking about a lot of stuff.
Is that cross function episode where we're talking about sports,
but we're also talking about the business side of sports.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
M we're putting on our business hats. It's a hat
that Ellen knows much more than I know.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I don't even know what hat is we're a super
hat right now, so I don't know that's your real hat.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I love my SUPERU and I have we both love them.
Partner works for Subaru and she saw me post about
my Superroo mug and then she said, I have all
of this merch lying around. Would you want some of it?
And I said yes, please, thank you so much, and
so she gave two more mugs, two hats, and a
(01:37):
super rookey chain.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm so jealous. We have two super rus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You do do you have the outback.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Or the forest? Don't ask me, don't ask me. I
go the old car. I go to the older car
or the newer car, and then they're kind of similar color.
I really don't know the difference. I go, they're both Superus.
I'll ask Alex. That's all I know about cars.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Room, froom, room from froom, But you know so much
about sports business.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Today because this episode is all about the will they
won't think Connecticut Sun, and honestly, it's been a it's
been hard to track. So we're going to do the
work for you because they are reportedly exploring multiple options
for sale, and we're going to dig into why they
can't just hop on that initial sale that we talked about.
So ESPN released a report detailing what's going on behind
(02:26):
the scenes in the WNBA and what appears to be
some bad blood between the Connecticut Sun and WNBA, like
the league itself, as the w is reportedly pulling out
all the stops to make sure that the Sun's potential
move is to a city of the league's choice. So
we're going to dig into that ESPN report in this
episode and really bring you up to speed with what
(02:48):
the heck is going on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I mean, you mentioned it on a previous episode. I
can't remember a couple of weeks. I think at least
two one week back, two weeks back, we kind of
mentioned that this was going on, but I feel like
this ESPN report has kind of brought it back to
the forefront again, So we're going to reiterate and kind
of dig into that a little bit more. Otherwise, Seph,
I do want to call an audible, and I want
to say that this audible is inspired by jesters in
(03:14):
our DMS asking questions Gister's commenting on our posts, and
that calling an audible is a question of is Taylor
Swift really going to perform at the super Bowl, that
is the question. After she dropped the news of her
life of a showgirl, a lot of people immediately started
(03:36):
looking for quote unquote easter eggs because we all know
that Taylor Swift loves to drop these easter eggs and
hints for her audience and for her super fans to
figure out what is next, and so Steph, It's like
the colors and numbers of it all, and her being
into numerology is where these kind of easter eggs started.
I don't know where you stand on the easter egg
(03:56):
of it all, where you stand on if you think
she's going to play at the super Bowl. But there
was enough people in conversation with us and in our
DMS that we were like, we people are asking for
our opinions, so why do we give it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I want to agree with one of our producers, Al
who says that she thinks Taylor would do a halftime
show one day, but not necessarily right now, like that
one day isn't imminent, And I would agree with you, Al,
I don't think that she would do it while Travis
is still playing personally, and I don't think that given
(04:28):
all that she Obviously, the super Bowl is a huge, huge,
huge deal to perform the halftime, but it is unpaid,
and Girley loves money. I don't think she's going to
be doing it right now unpaid. So but I love again,
I love Taylor Swift, so I'm coming at it from
I feel like at this point in her career, she's
not going to do the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And some of those Easter eggs that we had talked about,
is she talked about in the New Heights podcast. She
said to Jason Kelsey, he screamed for forty seven seconds.
The forty seventh date of the Eras two was a
Levi's Stadium. The super Bowl is happening in San Francisco
at Levi's Stadium, so a lot of people were saying, Okay,
is this a clue about the halftime? Taylor's favorite number
(05:11):
is thirteen thirteen plus forty seven equals sixty And in
the podcast, she also talked about how she says she's
thinking about baking bread sixty percent of the time now
and that she kept on mentioning sourdough bread, which also
has an affiliation with the forty nine Ers mascot who's
(05:33):
called sourdough Sam. So there's all of these little things
about the Super Bowl where people are like, is this
a coincidence? Is this not a coincidence? Orange is also
the theme. Orange is kind of the color of a
football red and yellow of the Chiefs. When you blend
that together, that makes orange. So I don't know. There's
a lot of swifties that feel really strongly out there
(05:54):
that she would play at a super Bowl. The only
thing that I would say, Steph, is like, the super
has always been something that she said that she wanted
to play at and really yeah, and in a year
where she's dropping a new album, it feels like this
could potentially be the time for her to play it.
And maybe she kind of knows that this season or
(06:17):
next season could be Travis Kelcey's last season in the league,
so it could feel almost like a retirement send off,
or they're sort of sending off potentially to the NFL,
as she wouldn't be gracing our screens so much on
different Sundays. So I'm with you, and I don't think
that it will happen. I think that the Easter eggs
(06:37):
are fun, but I would be surprised because she's always
dropping a new album do you know what I mean?
And she's always dropping Easter eggs that we're always wrong about. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I feel also like, what if Travis is in
the super Bowl then he can't It would be so distracting,
don't you think?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I don't know. I don't know. They're not like us.
They're not. They are felt so incredibly different. Hairbilt's so
different that you and I think about, oh, being distracted.
Don't want to take away the attention. Dah da da
da da, Like the attention is already taken away from
Travis any It's not even that.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I just like, oh, you mean, like I gotta keep
my head in the game, but I also want to
support my partner.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I can't do both at the same time. You could multitask,
not on that big of a stage. Do you know
what I'm hitting me? Oh? No?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Before like my game's in the provincials, I was like,
head down, listen to music in the dressing room.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I god, so cute. What type of music are you
listening to? Like Lincoln Park and stuff? I feel I
literally was picturing like Lincoln Park, good Charlotte some forty one,
That's what I was picturing. Little punk stuff listening.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
To You gotta get in the zone.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, pals. So it's the end of August, which means
that we are amidst so much WNBA action, a lot
of NWSL action, a lot of MLB action. But right
now the spiciest news is coming out of the WNBA.
There are only three weeks left of the regular season
and the playoffs are looming for the top eight teams.
(08:18):
We're talking about the Connecticut Sun today and their potential
sale as is still happening. They are missing the postseason
after their most recent loss. It is the first time
they're missing the postseason since twenty sixteen. There was a
lot of off season change for the Connecticut Sun. They
went through it. They did not have a great off season,
(08:38):
and so now that their playoff hopes are dashed and
now that there's less attention kind of on court, a
lot of the offcore drama is making the headlines and
in addition.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
To their on core struggles which place the Sun actually
dead last in can you believe it? Like just give
it obviously, Like you said, they had a lot of
shake ups, a.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Lot change, but just for my brain does not compute.
You know what, I'm saying any of that's remember when
John qwell Jones was on the Connecticut Sun. Yeah, your
favorite player in the wholeme. Oh my god, I missed
that era for them, but I love her all the liberty.
It's fun.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So we're going to take today's One Big Story to
break down that fascinating ESPN report around the saga that
is the potential sale of the Connecticut Sun. So that
article dropped on Tuesday, and digging into the deets behind
the team's quest to kind of salvage what would have
been a record breaking three hundred and twenty five million
(09:36):
dollars sale earlier this month. That is where we're at.
That was what was on the table, and now they're
trying to.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Keep that on the table. And that's what we would
have talked about beforehand, and what's actually happening. We are
about to kind of go through everything, and we apologize
in advance because we're going to use a lot of
reportedly sources say purportedly all of that sort of stuff,
which might get annoying at a certain point. We're sorry,
but that's because we're still sorting through the details and
(10:06):
it is really based off of all of these sources
from this ESPN article and other reporters that we're piecing
together this story.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I don't think I've ever said purportedly out loud, purportedly, purportedly,
I think you might be yeah, purportedly purportedly Yeah, cool.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Thanks, I love it. Okay. So for a little bit
of background here, The Mohegan Tribe has owned the Connecticut
Sun franchise since buying the team and relocating the Orlando
Miracle to Connecticut in two thousand and three. So that's
how long they have been the owners of this team.
(10:45):
Fast forward all the way from two thousand and three
to August second of this year, and the NBA's Boston
Celtics minority owner Steve fi Luca reportedly or purportedly stuff
reached a deal to buy the Sun for the Mohegan
Tribe for three hundred and twenty five million dollars, with
plans to relocate the squad to Boston by twenty twenty seven.
(11:06):
This was a move that I think a lot of
people were expecting from the Connecticut Sun. We've talked about
it on the podcast beforehand. Boston is an amazing sports sound.
It is an amazing city. There is a lot of
love for the Connecticut Sun that is right in Boston,
and some of those folks are able to commute to
go to the games, but not always the current owners.
(11:28):
So the Mohegan Tribe have also said and have hosted
some home games at TD Garden, the garden right downtown
and Boston. There were plans in the mix to build
a one hundred million dollar practice facility and so it's
not in Boston in Boston Tribe exactly. So as part
of this sale. So all to say, even with the
(11:51):
Mohegan Tribe and as the Connecticut Sun, they were already
these connections to Boston. So then when Payuka came in,
so the minority owner of the Boston Celtics, that made
sense that we wanted to bring it to Boston. I
think a lot of people were excited about that, and
they were planning to host the games at t D Garden.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And TD Garden is whether a Celtics play along with
the NHL Boston Bruins, So that is an important.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Fact to know.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Now all of the plans surrounding that initial I guess
bid not really bid for relocation, you know, yeah, Boston
Central Fans Facility, TD Garden.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yes, and that was really the Boston like purchase. They
didn't really frame it as a relocation because it was like,
this is al right, it almost already feels like Boston team.
It feels like New England's team. But the Wu and
Yu sayed relocation, I think Steph is because they pumped
the brake saying like this relocation from Connecticut two Massachusetts
(12:46):
and into Boston was not approved.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And the reason that they gave is because Boston wasn't
one of the twelve cities that applied for a WNBA
expansion team over the last three years.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Which I want to say real quick, if I'm Boston,
of course I'm not applying for an expansion team. When
the Connecticut Sun are right there. You know that you're
going to struggle with bringing in new fans when all
of those fans are already fans of the Sun. Obviously
you're not going to bid for it, especially if you
kind of know behind the scenes that a minority owner
(13:20):
is already thinking of bringing things to Boston and that
the team is already playing legitimate games and legitimate home
games at the Garden. And so when it says like
Boston didn't bid for it, we don't know if that's
like they would have if there wasn't a team in Connecticut,
and if it would have been on the shortlist if
there wasn't a team in Connecticut. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It's a really good question. And we'll get into the
ownership part of it too a little bit later. But
the WNBA their statement about all of this, explicitly said
that quote, relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board
of Governors and not by individual teams. This means that
in the WNBA's eyes, the cities that submitted a bid
should have priority over the next team or over this
(14:03):
relocation over Boston because Boston did not submit admit.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And it isn't unusual that team relocations have to be
approved by the league's board of governors. That's pretty normal.
That's what they do in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors,
for example, who move from Oakland to San Francisco in
twenty nineteen, also had to gain approval from the NBA's
Board of Directors. When the Liberty moved from Westchester to
Berkley's Arena, they also had to be approved. I think
(14:33):
what's different here those stuff is that, yes, it's it
is crossing state lines. But I think as if I
am that minority owner who wants to bring it into Boston,
I'm picturing this relocation more like in quotations and that
it's something a little bit more similar to from Oakland
to San fran or Westchester to New York liberty, even
(14:54):
though it's like somewhat far apart or in different states,
like I'm bucketing those under the same thing as opposed
to like relocation.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And the W has told the Michigan Tribe twice in
writing that they could not sell to relocate the franchise
out of market.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Which is also really tough for them, very tough.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, and I feel like this expansion process has really
put a.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Wrinkle in it.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I do want to let's hammer home what does
expansion have to do with this? Because when I was
reading the ESPN report, I of course kept thinking, what
does that have to do with this? This is a
selling of a team. Why are we talking about expansion?
So the W is rapidly growing as we all know, Toronto, Portland, Cleveland, Detroit,
and Philly all joining the league by twenty thirty. And
(15:42):
if the Sun sell and relocate, the WNBA reportedly prefers
the team move to a city that submitted an expansion bid,
and that is because of the way that they're thinking
and mapping out the league at large and not just
this one particular team. So the leading contender is for
a next team is reportedly Houston, which was previously home
of the now defunct comments franchise, and the group that
(16:04):
wants to bring a team to Houston is helmed by
the owner of the Houston Rockets. And this is what
I was alluding to earlier in the pod, is that
Payuka was once or once owned a share of the
Boston Celtics, but does not own that anymore as a
literally Tuesday, so it is unsure if that has any
(16:25):
effect on this as well.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I well, okay, if we look at the Toronto bid though,
that's the same thing, and I think.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Like, yeah, I know, which is what's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, I think that's where I'm getting frustrated here too.
Stuff is like, it's the Boston for con Celtics. You
wanna align with an NBA team, What better NBA team
than maybe the New York Knicks or the LA Lakers.
The Boston Celtics are a They're it to me like
they are it in the NBA, that is who you
(16:55):
want to be aligning with. And the fact that a
women's franchise might not be reper ened on the East
Coast in the way that it should be pains me
because I also think, yes, they want it to be
in Houston, But when you look at we talked about
this in our Sports Business newsletter. When teams move and
you have to rebrand, rename, what have you? You lose
(17:19):
all of that fandom and goodwill that you have built
with that city, with those fans as a brand the
minute that you're moving. And so to me, I'm like,
why can't it be both? Why can't they be going
to Boston, to a fantastic sports city, to an incredible
place to host a WNBA team, and award Houston the
(17:39):
next expansion opportunity and bring back the comments and do
what you want to do there. I don't think that
it needs to be one for one just because Connecticut's
the team that wants to sell. I don't know. I
just to me, I am feeling that it feels weird
and different if we're comparing it to Toronto, or if
we are comparing it to what we were talking about
with the Liberty or what we were talking about with
(18:00):
the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
And for contact with Toronto, the organization that owns the Raptors,
they didn't they didn't want a team.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
No, they didn't want a women's team. They didn't want
a women's team.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So the person who is owning the Toronto team was
once affiliated with that ownership group, but is now on
his own and doing this on his own. So that
is just some clarification in terms of why we don't
understand that how you go and.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
That's separate, that's important to do with it exactly, and
that's that's reportedly, it's reportedly by a lot of sources. No,
I mean reportedly why the league is like this and
that's why that's why it's like wait wait, wait, but
that's not the same same as Toronto. Yeah is what
are we doing it? Just it feels different to me
and I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to
put something in a place like Boston. I think that's
(18:47):
what it's coming down to, is like, yeah, they were
in a city who bid. But you're making your own rules.
You're making your own rules. You are the league, You
make the rules, make the rules. So that you could
bring it to a market that's going to accept them
as the Boston or still call it the New England
like whatever it is accepted as that.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So, okay, let's talk about the money side of it all,
because maybe that's what it's coming down to. So, according
to ESPN, the WNBA reportedly offered to buy the Sun
for two hundred and fifty million to facilitate a move
to a market that they decide on. Interesting, of course,
two hundred and fifty is less than what they were offering,
which was the three twenty five and two hundred and
fifty is in line with what Cleveland, Detroit, and Philly
(19:27):
ownership groups are paying for their expansion teams. And of course,
if you're the moh he Caan tribe, you're going to
turn that down because you were offered three hundred and
twenty five million dollars. So there's that that's also part
of all of this.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And with those other expansion teams. When we look at Toronto,
when we look at the Golden State Valkyries, when we
look at Portland, Golden State Toronto paid fifty million for
their expansion fees. Portland plaid seventy five and now it's
up to targ empty literally bargain basement, Like what the heck?
So that's why. Also the more he can drive is
like you're almost handcuffed us, Yeah, by us not being
(20:02):
allowed to sell to anybody else for a better price.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
And that record three hundred and twenty five million dollar
offer was matched by a group helmed by former Milwaukee
Bucks owner to keep the team in Connecticut, and they
wanted to move it to Hartford, Connecticut. Yes, so there's
also that on the table, which I'm like, why.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Harp for I Gil Markels. I'm like, I was like
a Gill Markels like, no offense. Bring it to Boston,
bring it home. We're going home. We're shipping up to Boston.
So there's a lot kind of going on here. Let's
talk about the very latest and then we'll get off.
Obviously I'm biased. I love Boston, like I really would
love to see a team in Boston. I think that's
(20:48):
where sports thrive and where they go to shine and
to live and to become dynasties in one way or another.
And so the latest and I think, what the biggest
piece that I took out of this ESPN P stuff
because a lot of this we already kind of knew,
They kind of like put everything around it. But I
think the latest is what I took out of it
the most, is that the Mohegan Tribe is really frustrated
(21:08):
with the league because they feel like the W has
only presented one option, and that one option basically gives
the W primary control of the sale and that they
have to control it and then it goes somewhere else.
And so the option that they are really considering here
is like relocating the team to a market of the
league's choosing at a value of the league's choosing. Whereas
(21:32):
the Mohegan Tribe, which I think all sports owners would
be feeling this way, believes that they should be able
to sell the franchise at the highest possible price, given
they have operated at a loss for the last two decades,
and that they've had this team since two thousand and three,
and the fact that they do want to keep it
in New England and they want to keep it with
Paie Luca and that group and someone who's kind of
(21:54):
known in the in the area.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So now, in terms of summing it up in what
might happen, there are likely four different scenarios that could
come of this is somehow they get that original offer
from Boston. Then second option is the Hartford sale for
the same price. The third option is maybe they pivot
(22:20):
and they go for a minority stake option, and then
the last is a DREG sale to the W, which
doesn't seem that likely. I don't know that that would
seem like the biggest l.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I don't see well, and I think to the W
would have to come up to that three twenty five.
And I don't see the W coming up to that
three twenty five because then they would want to turn
a profit on that and then sell it to the
next team. So I just I don't know that the
W does have concerns about Boston as it like I'm
thinking about it from a fan side of things, They're
thinking about it like the Garden is booked. They have NBA,
(22:55):
they have NHL, they have a concert venue. However, I'm
going the WNBA famously doesn't overlap outside of the playoffs
with the NHL or with the NBA. No offense to
Boston Bruins fans, but y'all did not make the postseason
this last year. The Boston Celtics could potentially for the
(23:16):
next ten years make deep runs. But I don't. I
think that that's contradictory to why the w started in
the summer. The reason why they started in the summer
is because they were hoping that NBA fans would come
over when basketball wasn't on, and they said, yeah, okay,
let's continue to watch basketball. And I think that that's
been a really interesting strategy for them. So the likelihood
(23:38):
of May and June being chock full with Bruins games
and Celtics games every single year, I don't know if
that's why you say no to someone when you could
work around that and you could figure that out. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And yeah, and they've also said we're building their own
practice facility, so that's not an issue. And they've already
had two sold out games, and that's what I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, like that the way to a way to operate
a successful team is by putting it into cities that
want the team and where fans already are. So I
don't think I think I've been very transparent of where
I'm at in all of this. Have you. I'm I'm
frustrated too, because I just I don't think that it's
fair to the fans, and I don't think that it's
fair to the team, and I don't think that it's
fair to those players if they are relocated and taken
(24:24):
out of New England.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's time for our Personal Training SASH.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
This is where we would absolutely love to.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Answer any of your hard hitting questions about anything, and
we mean anything in the sports world.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
If you'd like to be featured on a future episode,
call a slim as a voicemaan. We love hearing your voices.
One four three seven, five six four five 't five
seven nine. You can click on it in the show notes,
email us at pod at theisports dot com or message
me and Steph on Instagram. Steph is at Sephanie Rods.
I'm Ellen f gist. We don't bite. We want to
hear from you. There were a couple of ways that
(25:04):
we could take today's Personal Training SASH. First, I want
to give a shout out to Alyssa m who is
a longtime listener of the gist of it and who
we've become friends. And Alyssa is having a cl surgery
on Thursday, and so just wanted to give her a
big shout out. We're thinking of you. Wishing you happy recovery.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So that's first Thursday, the day of the podcast.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Thursday is as in right now, wow, get good out,
So good luck, Alissa, We're thinking of you. Second is
that we both keep on getting flooded. Our emails keep
getting flooded with us, like with justters saying do you
know that the Rugby World Cup is happening? And why
aren't you talking about it? And both fair a, we
know that it's happening. Be fair on you calling us
(25:49):
out that they have been talking about it. Enough, see
we heard you. So we are dropping a special edition
newsletter on Friday all about the Rugby World Cup that
is going to be a must read, so please listen
to that, and then we're going to read oh rit
read famously you read newsletters, and then we are going
to talk about the Rugby World Cup. I think the
(26:11):
biggest thing that I want to talk about here stuff
is like rugby seven's is what we enjoyed in the Olympics.
This is rugby fifteens. So it's a completely different game,
totally different style of rugby, and this is more of
the traditional rugby that I think we might be used to,
that you might have seen played when you were in
school or in college, or if you're a rugby fan,
(26:34):
this is probably what you're used to. And then I
think too. For me, the thing about rugby that I
absolutely love is that, yes, Canada is really good. The
US is starting to get pretty good on these fifteens.
But I just love how global a game rugby is,
and I love how kick ass New Zealand and Australia
(26:56):
and Fiji and like that area of the world is
at rugby and how much those countries put their female
rugby players on a pedestal and really see them as
like the drivers and celebrities of the game. That makes
me so happy every single time there's an international rugby tournament,
like they are the best.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And if you don't know what a special edition newsletter is,
that means you're not subscribed. So in the show notes
as well, open that up and you can subscribe to
the newsletter and that's how you will get the special
edition Rugby World Cup on what.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Is it Saturday? Sunday? When is it Friday? Friday? Neither?
Steph also doesn't listen. I want to talk about New
Zealand for a minute because they won the last World
Cup they're also the two and the World Cup before that,
so they're two time defending champions. If we could compare
them to the US women's national team in their prime,
(27:49):
that's what I would be comparing New Zealand too, And
I'd be comparing a Megan Rappino to a poor show
Woodman Wickcliffe. She's coming out of retirement for this tournament
and she is a name and a face who you
will get to know very fast because she is a
global rugby icon. She holds the record for the top
(28:10):
try scorer in Rugby World Cup history. A try and
rugby is what I would equate to a touchdown in football.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
And then also if you are new to rugby, would
recommend if you google, you google just rugby glossary.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
There will be that online as well.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yes, because that I read prior to the recording of
this episode to remind myself what a try is. So
if you are like me and you want to refresh,
there's also that resource that you can go to.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I love it. Alana Mayer is playing for Team USA.
She played over the summer in the UK so that
she could build up her fifteen strength because she is
a rugby sevens player in order to make the team,
and she made the team for the number ten ranked Americans.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
U it's I can't believe it's going to be. We
so associate Alona mar with rugby, but this is going
to be her World Cup debut, so I'm so excit
it for that. And then of course we have to
we have one more person than we need to mention,
and that is Canada's is Sophie da Goody arguably the
most complete player in women's rugby today. She really does
it all for Canada and she's just she's, yeah, we
(29:14):
have a little producers down here that I absolutely need
to share. She went to Queen's University, which also you
went to Yellen And one of our producers returned to
Queens in the summer and was scrimmaging against the basketball
team and Sophie was there and she ended up guarding
her and she said she was like so strong, so big,
so fast, truly incredible.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
So what what a small world moment? And for context,
she played she played hoops like at school. She's a
dual athlete. And I would say a lot of rugby
players are, and well not a lot of rugby players,
A lot of female rugby players are because rugby's only
really started to take off, honestly now at youth levels
and in younger levels. Generally was rugby, at least in Canada.
(29:57):
Outside globally it's totally different. But in Canada and the U,
you generally would start off playing basketball, playing soccer, whatever,
and then as you got older and you actually had
the opportunity to potentially play rugby in high school or
play rugby in college, sometimes those teams would look at
you playing another sport and go, mm, you're not gonna
(30:17):
make it all the way in basketball, but we're just
going to cherry pick you out of there and bring
you over into rugby and see what you could do there.
And so that's what happened to Sophie to Goodie, but
that's also what's happened to just so many of the
national team members is that they start somewhere else and
then they go they start with a different sport and
then they come into rugby because there's not that same
youth system.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
To Goody, both of her parents captained Team Canada before
and she's doing it just like they did.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It's so cool, it's so heartwarming. Again, wait for the
special edition of Friday Stuff. Much more to come, and
I'm sure we'll be covering it and talking about it
because you all have asked for us to cover it
and talk about it throughout the tournament. What a time
to be alive.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Amazing and without marxando today's episode. Thank you so much
for tuning in for being part of this conversation. We'll
be back in your feed with a new podcast on Tuesday.
In the meantime, of course, if you enjoyed today's pod,
rate review, subscribe all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
This episode was edited by Savannah Held and produced by
Lisa Minocullo and Alixandra Puccio. Again, I'm Ellen his Lap.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
And I'm Steph Rutts and Friday Special Edition news letter.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Look up for that and also like call us and
let us know what you think about this Connecticut Sun stuff, Like, yeah,
that is something we want to hear your takes, So
we want to hear what's going on, if you agree,
if you don't agree, like, we want to hear about
it because it is so interesting and I think divisive
in a way too.
What's up, y'all. Welcome and welcome back to another episode
of The Gist of It. Today is Thursday, August twenty first.
Happy birthday, John Hisslop. If you are listening, we're your
co hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Ellen Hisslop and I'm Steph Rad's Happy birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Everyone go wish my dad happy birthday. The LEO king
that he is not sure if he's going to be
listening to the podcast on his birthday or not, but
I feel like he might, Steph because famously, my dad
loves sports, taught me basically everything that I know, and
desperately wants to work at The Gist and be on
the podcast. Every time I report the podcast from my
(00:46):
parents' house, he always finds a way to come into
the background and wave to Steph, or wave to my colleagues,
or do whatever he can. And today's episode is similar
scene to what we've been talking about a lot of stuff.
Is that cross function episode where we're talking about sports,
but we're also talking about the business side of sports.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
M we're putting on our business hats. It's a hat
that Ellen knows much more than I know.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I don't even know what hat is we're a super
hat right now, so I don't know that's your real hat.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I love my SUPERU and I have we both love them.
Partner works for Subaru and she saw me post about
my Superroo mug and then she said, I have all
of this merch lying around. Would you want some of it?
And I said yes, please, thank you so much, and
so she gave two more mugs, two hats, and a
(01:37):
super rookey chain.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm so jealous. We have two super rus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You do do you have the outback.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Or the forest? Don't ask me, don't ask me. I
go the old car. I go to the older car
or the newer car, and then they're kind of similar color.
I really don't know the difference. I go, they're both Superus.
I'll ask Alex. That's all I know about cars.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Room, froom, room from froom, But you know so much
about sports business.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Today because this episode is all about the will they
won't think Connecticut Sun, and honestly, it's been a it's
been hard to track. So we're going to do the
work for you because they are reportedly exploring multiple options
for sale, and we're going to dig into why they
can't just hop on that initial sale that we talked about.
So ESPN released a report detailing what's going on behind
(02:26):
the scenes in the WNBA and what appears to be
some bad blood between the Connecticut Sun and WNBA, like
the league itself, as the w is reportedly pulling out
all the stops to make sure that the Sun's potential
move is to a city of the league's choice. So
we're going to dig into that ESPN report in this
episode and really bring you up to speed with what
(02:48):
the heck is going on.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I mean, you mentioned it on a previous episode. I
can't remember a couple of weeks. I think at least
two one week back, two weeks back, we kind of
mentioned that this was going on, but I feel like
this ESPN report has kind of brought it back to
the forefront again, So we're going to reiterate and kind
of dig into that a little bit more. Otherwise, Seph,
I do want to call an audible, and I want
to say that this audible is inspired by jesters in
(03:14):
our DMS asking questions Gister's commenting on our posts, and
that calling an audible is a question of is Taylor
Swift really going to perform at the super Bowl, that
is the question. After she dropped the news of her
life of a showgirl, a lot of people immediately started
(03:36):
looking for quote unquote easter eggs because we all know
that Taylor Swift loves to drop these easter eggs and
hints for her audience and for her super fans to
figure out what is next, and so Steph, It's like
the colors and numbers of it all, and her being
into numerology is where these kind of easter eggs started.
I don't know where you stand on the easter egg
(03:56):
of it all, where you stand on if you think
she's going to play at the super Bowl. But there
was enough people in conversation with us and in our
DMS that we were like, we people are asking for
our opinions, so why do we give it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I want to agree with one of our producers, Al
who says that she thinks Taylor would do a halftime
show one day, but not necessarily right now, like that
one day isn't imminent, And I would agree with you, Al,
I don't think that she would do it while Travis
is still playing personally, and I don't think that given
(04:28):
all that she Obviously, the super Bowl is a huge, huge,
huge deal to perform the halftime, but it is unpaid,
and Girley loves money. I don't think she's going to
be doing it right now unpaid. So but I love again,
I love Taylor Swift, so I'm coming at it from
I feel like at this point in her career, she's
not going to do the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And some of those Easter eggs that we had talked about,
is she talked about in the New Heights podcast. She
said to Jason Kelsey, he screamed for forty seven seconds.
The forty seventh date of the Eras two was a
Levi's Stadium. The super Bowl is happening in San Francisco
at Levi's Stadium, so a lot of people were saying, Okay,
is this a clue about the halftime? Taylor's favorite number
(05:11):
is thirteen thirteen plus forty seven equals sixty And in
the podcast, she also talked about how she says she's
thinking about baking bread sixty percent of the time now
and that she kept on mentioning sourdough bread, which also
has an affiliation with the forty nine Ers mascot who's
(05:33):
called sourdough Sam. So there's all of these little things
about the Super Bowl where people are like, is this
a coincidence? Is this not a coincidence? Orange is also
the theme. Orange is kind of the color of a
football red and yellow of the Chiefs. When you blend
that together, that makes orange. So I don't know. There's
a lot of swifties that feel really strongly out there
(05:54):
that she would play at a super Bowl. The only
thing that I would say, Steph, is like, the super
has always been something that she said that she wanted
to play at and really yeah, and in a year
where she's dropping a new album, it feels like this
could potentially be the time for her to play it.
And maybe she kind of knows that this season or
(06:17):
next season could be Travis Kelcey's last season in the league,
so it could feel almost like a retirement send off,
or they're sort of sending off potentially to the NFL,
as she wouldn't be gracing our screens so much on
different Sundays. So I'm with you, and I don't think
that it will happen. I think that the Easter eggs
(06:37):
are fun, but I would be surprised because she's always
dropping a new album do you know what I mean?
And she's always dropping Easter eggs that we're always wrong about. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I feel also like, what if Travis is in
the super Bowl then he can't It would be so distracting,
don't you think?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I don't know. I don't know. They're not like us.
They're not. They are felt so incredibly different. Hairbilt's so
different that you and I think about, oh, being distracted.
Don't want to take away the attention. Dah da da
da da, Like the attention is already taken away from
Travis any It's not even that.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I just like, oh, you mean, like I gotta keep
my head in the game, but I also want to
support my partner.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I can't do both at the same time. You could multitask,
not on that big of a stage. Do you know
what I'm hitting me? Oh? No?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Before like my game's in the provincials, I was like,
head down, listen to music in the dressing room.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I god, so cute. What type of music are you
listening to? Like Lincoln Park and stuff? I feel I
literally was picturing like Lincoln Park, good Charlotte some forty one,
That's what I was picturing. Little punk stuff listening.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
To You gotta get in the zone.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, pals. So it's the end of August, which means
that we are amidst so much WNBA action, a lot
of NWSL action, a lot of MLB action. But right
now the spiciest news is coming out of the WNBA.
There are only three weeks left of the regular season
and the playoffs are looming for the top eight teams.
(08:18):
We're talking about the Connecticut Sun today and their potential
sale as is still happening. They are missing the postseason
after their most recent loss. It is the first time
they're missing the postseason since twenty sixteen. There was a
lot of off season change for the Connecticut Sun. They
went through it. They did not have a great off season,
(08:38):
and so now that their playoff hopes are dashed and
now that there's less attention kind of on court, a
lot of the offcore drama is making the headlines and
in addition.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
To their on core struggles which place the Sun actually
dead last in can you believe it? Like just give
it obviously, Like you said, they had a lot of
shake ups, a.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Lot change, but just for my brain does not compute.
You know what, I'm saying any of that's remember when
John qwell Jones was on the Connecticut Sun. Yeah, your
favorite player in the wholeme. Oh my god, I missed
that era for them, but I love her all the liberty.
It's fun.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So we're going to take today's One Big Story to
break down that fascinating ESPN report around the saga that
is the potential sale of the Connecticut Sun. So that
article dropped on Tuesday, and digging into the deets behind
the team's quest to kind of salvage what would have
been a record breaking three hundred and twenty five million
(09:36):
dollars sale earlier this month. That is where we're at.
That was what was on the table, and now they're
trying to.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Keep that on the table. And that's what we would
have talked about beforehand, and what's actually happening. We are
about to kind of go through everything, and we apologize
in advance because we're going to use a lot of
reportedly sources say purportedly all of that sort of stuff,
which might get annoying at a certain point. We're sorry,
but that's because we're still sorting through the details and
(10:06):
it is really based off of all of these sources
from this ESPN article and other reporters that we're piecing
together this story.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I don't think I've ever said purportedly out loud, purportedly, purportedly,
I think you might be yeah, purportedly purportedly Yeah, cool.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Thanks, I love it. Okay. So for a little bit
of background here, The Mohegan Tribe has owned the Connecticut
Sun franchise since buying the team and relocating the Orlando
Miracle to Connecticut in two thousand and three. So that's
how long they have been the owners of this team.
(10:45):
Fast forward all the way from two thousand and three
to August second of this year, and the NBA's Boston
Celtics minority owner Steve fi Luca reportedly or purportedly stuff
reached a deal to buy the Sun for the Mohegan
Tribe for three hundred and twenty five million dollars, with
plans to relocate the squad to Boston by twenty twenty seven.
(11:06):
This was a move that I think a lot of
people were expecting from the Connecticut Sun. We've talked about
it on the podcast beforehand. Boston is an amazing sports sound.
It is an amazing city. There is a lot of
love for the Connecticut Sun that is right in Boston,
and some of those folks are able to commute to
go to the games, but not always the current owners.
(11:28):
So the Mohegan Tribe have also said and have hosted
some home games at TD Garden, the garden right downtown
and Boston. There were plans in the mix to build
a one hundred million dollar practice facility and so it's
not in Boston in Boston Tribe exactly. So as part
of this sale. So all to say, even with the
(11:51):
Mohegan Tribe and as the Connecticut Sun, they were already
these connections to Boston. So then when Payuka came in,
so the minority owner of the Boston Celtics, that made
sense that we wanted to bring it to Boston. I
think a lot of people were excited about that, and
they were planning to host the games at t D Garden.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And TD Garden is whether a Celtics play along with
the NHL Boston Bruins, So that is an important.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Fact to know.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Now all of the plans surrounding that initial I guess
bid not really bid for relocation, you know, yeah, Boston
Central Fans Facility, TD Garden.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yes, and that was really the Boston like purchase. They
didn't really frame it as a relocation because it was like,
this is al right, it almost already feels like Boston team.
It feels like New England's team. But the Wu and
Yu sayed relocation, I think Steph is because they pumped
the brake saying like this relocation from Connecticut two Massachusetts
(12:46):
and into Boston was not approved.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And the reason that they gave is because Boston wasn't
one of the twelve cities that applied for a WNBA
expansion team over the last three years.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Which I want to say real quick, if I'm Boston,
of course I'm not applying for an expansion team. When
the Connecticut Sun are right there. You know that you're
going to struggle with bringing in new fans when all
of those fans are already fans of the Sun. Obviously
you're not going to bid for it, especially if you
kind of know behind the scenes that a minority owner
(13:20):
is already thinking of bringing things to Boston and that
the team is already playing legitimate games and legitimate home
games at the Garden. And so when it says like
Boston didn't bid for it, we don't know if that's
like they would have if there wasn't a team in Connecticut,
and if it would have been on the shortlist if
there wasn't a team in Connecticut. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It's a really good question. And we'll get into the
ownership part of it too a little bit later. But
the WNBA their statement about all of this, explicitly said
that quote, relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board
of Governors and not by individual teams. This means that
in the WNBA's eyes, the cities that submitted a bid
should have priority over the next team or over this
(14:03):
relocation over Boston because Boston did not submit admit.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And it isn't unusual that team relocations have to be
approved by the league's board of governors. That's pretty normal.
That's what they do in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors,
for example, who move from Oakland to San Francisco in
twenty nineteen, also had to gain approval from the NBA's
Board of Directors. When the Liberty moved from Westchester to
Berkley's Arena, they also had to be approved. I think
(14:33):
what's different here those stuff is that, yes, it's it
is crossing state lines. But I think as if I
am that minority owner who wants to bring it into Boston,
I'm picturing this relocation more like in quotations and that
it's something a little bit more similar to from Oakland
to San fran or Westchester to New York liberty, even
(14:54):
though it's like somewhat far apart or in different states,
like I'm bucketing those under the same thing as opposed
to like relocation.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And the W has told the Michigan Tribe twice in
writing that they could not sell to relocate the franchise
out of market.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Which is also really tough for them, very tough.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, and I feel like this expansion process has really
put a.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Wrinkle in it.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I do want to let's hammer home what does
expansion have to do with this? Because when I was
reading the ESPN report, I of course kept thinking, what
does that have to do with this? This is a
selling of a team. Why are we talking about expansion?
So the W is rapidly growing as we all know, Toronto, Portland, Cleveland, Detroit,
and Philly all joining the league by twenty thirty. And
(15:42):
if the Sun sell and relocate, the WNBA reportedly prefers
the team move to a city that submitted an expansion bid,
and that is because of the way that they're thinking
and mapping out the league at large and not just
this one particular team. So the leading contender is for
a next team is reportedly Houston, which was previously home
of the now defunct comments franchise, and the group that
(16:04):
wants to bring a team to Houston is helmed by
the owner of the Houston Rockets. And this is what
I was alluding to earlier in the pod, is that
Payuka was once or once owned a share of the
Boston Celtics, but does not own that anymore as a
literally Tuesday, so it is unsure if that has any
(16:25):
effect on this as well.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I well, okay, if we look at the Toronto bid though,
that's the same thing, and I think.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Like, yeah, I know, which is what's frustrating.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, I think that's where I'm getting frustrated here too.
Stuff is like, it's the Boston for con Celtics. You
wanna align with an NBA team, What better NBA team
than maybe the New York Knicks or the LA Lakers.
The Boston Celtics are a They're it to me like
they are it in the NBA, that is who you
(16:55):
want to be aligning with. And the fact that a
women's franchise might not be reper ened on the East
Coast in the way that it should be pains me
because I also think, yes, they want it to be
in Houston, But when you look at we talked about
this in our Sports Business newsletter. When teams move and
you have to rebrand, rename, what have you? You lose
(17:19):
all of that fandom and goodwill that you have built
with that city, with those fans as a brand the
minute that you're moving. And so to me, I'm like,
why can't it be both? Why can't they be going
to Boston, to a fantastic sports city, to an incredible
place to host a WNBA team, and award Houston the
(17:39):
next expansion opportunity and bring back the comments and do
what you want to do there. I don't think that
it needs to be one for one just because Connecticut's
the team that wants to sell. I don't know. I
just to me, I am feeling that it feels weird
and different if we're comparing it to Toronto, or if
we are comparing it to what we were talking about
with the Liberty or what we were talking about with
(18:00):
the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
And for contact with Toronto, the organization that owns the Raptors,
they didn't they didn't want a team.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
No, they didn't want a women's team. They didn't want
a women's team.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So the person who is owning the Toronto team was
once affiliated with that ownership group, but is now on
his own and doing this on his own. So that
is just some clarification in terms of why we don't
understand that how you go and.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
That's separate, that's important to do with it exactly, and
that's that's reportedly, it's reportedly by a lot of sources. No,
I mean reportedly why the league is like this and
that's why that's why it's like wait wait, wait, but
that's not the same same as Toronto. Yeah is what
are we doing it? Just it feels different to me
and I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to
put something in a place like Boston. I think that's
(18:47):
what it's coming down to, is like, yeah, they were
in a city who bid. But you're making your own rules.
You're making your own rules. You are the league, You
make the rules, make the rules. So that you could
bring it to a market that's going to accept them
as the Boston or still call it the New England
like whatever it is accepted as that.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So, okay, let's talk about the money side of it all,
because maybe that's what it's coming down to. So, according
to ESPN, the WNBA reportedly offered to buy the Sun
for two hundred and fifty million to facilitate a move
to a market that they decide on. Interesting, of course,
two hundred and fifty is less than what they were offering,
which was the three twenty five and two hundred and
fifty is in line with what Cleveland, Detroit, and Philly
(19:27):
ownership groups are paying for their expansion teams. And of course,
if you're the moh he Caan tribe, you're going to
turn that down because you were offered three hundred and
twenty five million dollars. So there's that that's also part
of all of this.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And with those other expansion teams. When we look at Toronto,
when we look at the Golden State Valkyries, when we
look at Portland, Golden State Toronto paid fifty million for
their expansion fees. Portland plaid seventy five and now it's
up to targ empty literally bargain basement, Like what the heck?
So that's why. Also the more he can drive is
like you're almost handcuffed us, Yeah, by us not being
(20:02):
allowed to sell to anybody else for a better price.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
And that record three hundred and twenty five million dollar
offer was matched by a group helmed by former Milwaukee
Bucks owner to keep the team in Connecticut, and they
wanted to move it to Hartford, Connecticut. Yes, so there's
also that on the table, which I'm like, why.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Harp for I Gil Markels. I'm like, I was like
a Gill Markels like, no offense. Bring it to Boston,
bring it home. We're going home. We're shipping up to Boston.
So there's a lot kind of going on here. Let's
talk about the very latest and then we'll get off.
Obviously I'm biased. I love Boston, like I really would
love to see a team in Boston. I think that's
(20:48):
where sports thrive and where they go to shine and
to live and to become dynasties in one way or another.
And so the latest and I think, what the biggest
piece that I took out of this ESPN P stuff
because a lot of this we already kind of knew,
They kind of like put everything around it. But I
think the latest is what I took out of it
the most, is that the Mohegan Tribe is really frustrated
(21:08):
with the league because they feel like the W has
only presented one option, and that one option basically gives
the W primary control of the sale and that they
have to control it and then it goes somewhere else.
And so the option that they are really considering here
is like relocating the team to a market of the
league's choosing at a value of the league's choosing. Whereas
(21:32):
the Mohegan Tribe, which I think all sports owners would
be feeling this way, believes that they should be able
to sell the franchise at the highest possible price, given
they have operated at a loss for the last two decades,
and that they've had this team since two thousand and three,
and the fact that they do want to keep it
in New England and they want to keep it with
Paie Luca and that group and someone who's kind of
(21:54):
known in the in the area.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So now, in terms of summing it up in what
might happen, there are likely four different scenarios that could
come of this is somehow they get that original offer
from Boston. Then second option is the Hartford sale for
the same price. The third option is maybe they pivot
(22:20):
and they go for a minority stake option, and then
the last is a DREG sale to the W, which
doesn't seem that likely. I don't know that that would
seem like the biggest l.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I don't see well, and I think to the W
would have to come up to that three twenty five.
And I don't see the W coming up to that
three twenty five because then they would want to turn
a profit on that and then sell it to the
next team. So I just I don't know that the
W does have concerns about Boston as it like I'm
thinking about it from a fan side of things, They're
thinking about it like the Garden is booked. They have NBA,
(22:55):
they have NHL, they have a concert venue. However, I'm
going the WNBA famously doesn't overlap outside of the playoffs
with the NHL or with the NBA. No offense to
Boston Bruins fans, but y'all did not make the postseason
this last year. The Boston Celtics could potentially for the
(23:16):
next ten years make deep runs. But I don't. I
think that that's contradictory to why the w started in
the summer. The reason why they started in the summer
is because they were hoping that NBA fans would come
over when basketball wasn't on, and they said, yeah, okay,
let's continue to watch basketball. And I think that that's
been a really interesting strategy for them. So the likelihood
(23:38):
of May and June being chock full with Bruins games
and Celtics games every single year, I don't know if
that's why you say no to someone when you could
work around that and you could figure that out. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And yeah, and they've also said we're building their own
practice facility, so that's not an issue. And they've already
had two sold out games, and that's what I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, like that the way to a way to operate
a successful team is by putting it into cities that
want the team and where fans already are. So I
don't think I think I've been very transparent of where
I'm at in all of this. Have you. I'm I'm
frustrated too, because I just I don't think that it's
fair to the fans, and I don't think that it's
fair to the team, and I don't think that it's
fair to those players if they are relocated and taken
(24:24):
out of New England.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's time for our Personal Training SASH.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
This is where we would absolutely love to.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Answer any of your hard hitting questions about anything, and
we mean anything in the sports world.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
If you'd like to be featured on a future episode,
call a slim as a voicemaan. We love hearing your voices.
One four three seven, five six four five 't five
seven nine. You can click on it in the show notes,
email us at pod at theisports dot com or message
me and Steph on Instagram. Steph is at Sephanie Rods.
I'm Ellen f gist. We don't bite. We want to
hear from you. There were a couple of ways that
(25:04):
we could take today's Personal Training SASH. First, I want
to give a shout out to Alyssa m who is
a longtime listener of the gist of it and who
we've become friends. And Alyssa is having a cl surgery
on Thursday, and so just wanted to give her a
big shout out. We're thinking of you. Wishing you happy recovery.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So that's first Thursday, the day of the podcast.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Thursday is as in right now, wow, get good out,
So good luck, Alissa, We're thinking of you. Second is
that we both keep on getting flooded. Our emails keep
getting flooded with us, like with justters saying do you
know that the Rugby World Cup is happening? And why
aren't you talking about it? And both fair a, we
know that it's happening. Be fair on you calling us
(25:49):
out that they have been talking about it. Enough, see
we heard you. So we are dropping a special edition
newsletter on Friday all about the Rugby World Cup that
is going to be a must read, so please listen
to that, and then we're going to read oh rit
read famously you read newsletters, and then we are going
to talk about the Rugby World Cup. I think the
(26:11):
biggest thing that I want to talk about here stuff
is like rugby seven's is what we enjoyed in the Olympics.
This is rugby fifteens. So it's a completely different game,
totally different style of rugby, and this is more of
the traditional rugby that I think we might be used to,
that you might have seen played when you were in
school or in college, or if you're a rugby fan,
(26:34):
this is probably what you're used to. And then I
think too. For me, the thing about rugby that I
absolutely love is that, yes, Canada is really good. The
US is starting to get pretty good on these fifteens.
But I just love how global a game rugby is,
and I love how kick ass New Zealand and Australia
(26:56):
and Fiji and like that area of the world is
at rugby and how much those countries put their female
rugby players on a pedestal and really see them as
like the drivers and celebrities of the game. That makes
me so happy every single time there's an international rugby tournament,
like they are the best.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And if you don't know what a special edition newsletter is,
that means you're not subscribed. So in the show notes
as well, open that up and you can subscribe to
the newsletter and that's how you will get the special
edition Rugby World Cup on what.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Is it Saturday? Sunday? When is it Friday? Friday? Neither?
Steph also doesn't listen. I want to talk about New
Zealand for a minute because they won the last World
Cup they're also the two and the World Cup before that,
so they're two time defending champions. If we could compare
them to the US women's national team in their prime,
(27:49):
that's what I would be comparing New Zealand too, And
I'd be comparing a Megan Rappino to a poor show
Woodman Wickcliffe. She's coming out of retirement for this tournament
and she is a name and a face who you
will get to know very fast because she is a
global rugby icon. She holds the record for the top
(28:10):
try scorer in Rugby World Cup history. A try and
rugby is what I would equate to a touchdown in football.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
And then also if you are new to rugby, would
recommend if you google, you google just rugby glossary.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
There will be that online as well.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yes, because that I read prior to the recording of
this episode to remind myself what a try is. So
if you are like me and you want to refresh,
there's also that resource that you can go to.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I love it. Alana Mayer is playing for Team USA.
She played over the summer in the UK so that
she could build up her fifteen strength because she is
a rugby sevens player in order to make the team,
and she made the team for the number ten ranked Americans.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
U it's I can't believe it's going to be. We
so associate Alona mar with rugby, but this is going
to be her World Cup debut, so I'm so excit
it for that. And then of course we have to
we have one more person than we need to mention,
and that is Canada's is Sophie da Goody arguably the
most complete player in women's rugby today. She really does
it all for Canada and she's just she's, yeah, we
(29:14):
have a little producers down here that I absolutely need
to share. She went to Queen's University, which also you
went to Yellen And one of our producers returned to
Queens in the summer and was scrimmaging against the basketball
team and Sophie was there and she ended up guarding
her and she said she was like so strong, so big,
so fast, truly incredible.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
So what what a small world moment? And for context,
she played she played hoops like at school. She's a
dual athlete. And I would say a lot of rugby
players are, and well not a lot of rugby players,
A lot of female rugby players are because rugby's only
really started to take off, honestly now at youth levels
and in younger levels. Generally was rugby, at least in Canada.
(29:57):
Outside globally it's totally different. But in Canada and the U,
you generally would start off playing basketball, playing soccer, whatever,
and then as you got older and you actually had
the opportunity to potentially play rugby in high school or
play rugby in college, sometimes those teams would look at
you playing another sport and go, mm, you're not gonna
(30:17):
make it all the way in basketball, but we're just
going to cherry pick you out of there and bring
you over into rugby and see what you could do there.
And so that's what happened to Sophie to Goodie, but
that's also what's happened to just so many of the
national team members is that they start somewhere else and
then they go they start with a different sport and
then they come into rugby because there's not that same
youth system.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
To Goody, both of her parents captained Team Canada before
and she's doing it just like they did.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It's so cool, it's so heartwarming. Again, wait for the
special edition of Friday Stuff. Much more to come, and
I'm sure we'll be covering it and talking about it
because you all have asked for us to cover it
and talk about it throughout the tournament. What a time
to be alive.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Amazing and without marxando today's episode. Thank you so much
for tuning in for being part of this conversation. We'll
be back in your feed with a new podcast on Tuesday.
In the meantime, of course, if you enjoyed today's pod,
rate review, subscribe all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
This episode was edited by Savannah Held and produced by
Lisa Minocullo and Alixandra Puccio. Again, I'm Ellen his Lap.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
And I'm Steph Rutts and Friday Special Edition news letter.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Look up for that and also like call us and
let us know what you think about this Connecticut Sun stuff, Like, yeah,
that is something we want to hear your takes, So
we want to hear what's going on, if you agree,
if you don't agree, like, we want to hear about
it because it is so interesting and I think divisive
in a way too.
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