I’d be happy to see the WNBA come back to Houston.
From 1997 to 2000, legendary players Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson, and Sheryl Swoops led the Houston Comets to the first four national WNBA titles. The team was a dynasty: To this day, it’s the only franchise to win four consecutive championships.
But when the league tips off on May 6 this year, it will mark more than a decade since Houstonians have rooted for a hometown team.
The Comets dissolved in 2008 due to financial problems. Since then, many fans have wondered when conditions might be right for the WNBA to expand again, and what it would take to bring a team back to the Bayou City.
As the league reaches an all-time high in popularity, fans and experts say now is the time.
“If you love women’s basketball, and you love the history of women’s basketball, like I do, like so many others do,” said Howard Megdal, founder and editor at The Next: A Women’s Basketball Newsroom, “it almost feels like a crime that there isn’t a WNBA team in Houston.”
The Comets folded during a decade of WNBA contraction – the league went from 16 teams in 2000 down to the current 12.
But it’s a much different story today: The league, affectionately known as the W among fans, saw decade-high viewership last season, and reported record social media engagement and merchandise sales. Ahead of the 26th season in May, the W raised the most capital in its history at $75 million dollars.
“The idea that there would be a significant expansion in the WNBA within two to four years,” said Megdal, “that seems like a perfectly reasonable time frame, as far as I can tell.”
The league has not publicly committed to expansion, but Megdal said its sounded more open to the idea since the capital raise. He’s watching to see what cities emerge as viable markets at a time when investment in women’s sports is going up exponentially.
But if the city does hope to see a WNBA team, Megdal said it needs stable ownership willing to make an investment – including a place to play.
That latter point is critical. Last season during the playoffs, the Phoenix Mercury were not able to play on the team’s home court due to a scheduling conflict with its shared arena, a move widely criticized among fans. The only W team currently in Texas shares its stadium: the Dallas Wings play on the University of Texas at Arlington campus.
In Houston, fans say they want a place to house the legacy of the Comets, plus a hometown team to root for.
We were season ticket holders for the Comets for eight years, starting in the venue formerly known as The Summit, then to Toyota Center, and then the last year at the godawful Reliant Arena, which was easily the worst place I’ve ever had to watch sporting events in. By that time, the Rockets had sold their interest in the Comets to a local furniture store owner (no, not Mattress Mack), and it was clear the team had little cash flow. I doubt that would be an issue now, and I’d expect a new WNBA franchise would be able to play at Toyota Center. The Comets always had a passionate fan base at its core, though the total audience shrank over time as the team got farther away from its glory days. I think a new team would start out with no trouble drawing fans, and from there it would be up to them. I’d be happy to see the league come back to Houston. I don’t know when it might happen, or even if, but I do hope it’s out there.