Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston speaks during an event in her honor on the State House's Grand Staircase on July 14, 2025 as House Speaker Ron Mariano, right, listens. Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service
The plea to get a women’s professional basketball team to Boston is cementing its roots deep within the State House as anticipation for Tuesday night’s Indiana Fever-Connecticut Sun game at TD Garden takes center stage.
On the eve of the second-ever Connecticut Sun game set in Boston, the Fever and its Massachusetts-bred power forward and center Aliyah Boston arrived on Beacon Hill to the cheers of young players, staffers and lawmakers who packed the hall of the Grand Staircase on Monday.
A former South Carolina Gamecock in her third season with the Fever, Aliyah Boston is a three-time NBA All-Star and 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Boston is a Worcester Academy alumna who racked up statewide accolades during her time playing basketball in Massachusetts.
“This is going to be the second year in a row that the TD Garden has sold out – sold out. The hardest ticket in town to get, by far, and this is a big sports town, right?” Gov. Maura Healey said Monday. “It’s because this league and the amazing women who play in it, those who coach, staff, everybody who’s a part of the WNBA, have taken and are taking women’s sports, and with that, women, to new heights.”
Aliyah Boston’s visit to the State House on Monday marked the official dedication of July 14 as “Aliyah Boston Day” in the city, per Councilor Brian Worrell. Healey and House Speaker Ron Mariano also presented the Fever center with congratulatory certificates for her accolades and for inspiring the next generation of girls in sports.
The former Gamecock has additional, fresh ties to the city. The National Women’s Soccer League’s Boston Legacy FC announced her as an investor in the city’s newest professional sports team on Monday.
The 2024 Sun-Los Angeles Sparks game was the first-ever WNBA game at TD Garden and the most-attended game in Sun franchise history, bringing in more than 19,000 fans. The Fever and the Sun go head-to-head for another sold-out showing on Tuesday night – less than a week after the Boston City Council passed a Councilor Brian Worrell resolution on July 11, expressing support for bringing a WNBA franchise to the city.
The resolution urges the WNBA and any potential ownership group to consider Boston as the next home for a professional women’s basketball team. Worrell said he looks forward to bringing a WNBA team to Boston “as storied a franchise as the Celtics.”
The Sun, which is owned by the Mohegan Tribe, play at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
WNBA revenues have skyrocketed in recent years. The league announced in June that it will hit 18 teams by 2030 by establishing new franchises in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. Until this season, with the introduction of The Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA had not expanded since 2008. The Valkyries paid about $50 million for the team’s franchise; the three newest franchises each will reportedly pay about $250 million.
