The team is bringing the name and legacy back to Houston.
HOUSTON — The Houston Comets are apparently written in the stars.
Houston helped build the WNBA and now, after nearly two decades, the team that won the league’s first four championships is coming home. And this version hopes to be even better for Houston.
The Houston Rockets’ ownership says bringing back the name and legacy matter just as much as bringing back the league itself.
“It was immensely important,” said Patrick Fertitta, alternate Governor and Director of Fertitta Entertainment.
The Fertitta family reportedly paid around $300 million to purchase the Connecticut Sun and relocate the franchise to Houston beginning next season, but ownership says this was never simply about buying a WNBA team. It was about restoring an iconic brand.
“It honestly didn’t make a lot of sense to go any other direction,” Fertitta said. “There is such a special brand and identity that already exists.”
The original Comets were winners of the WNBA’s 1st four championships before folding in 2008 during a much different financial era for women’s basketball.
“My star players made $50,000 a year,” said former Comets coach Van Chancellor. “We flew commercial.”
Today, the league is booming with rising attendance, major media deals, and ownership groups willing to spend heavily to get in.
As for when ownership expects the franchise to reach profitability…
“Immediately,” Fertitta said.
And now that the announcement is complete, work will start at Toyota Center to turn a section into the Comets’ practice court. It’s all part of “Toyota Center Reimagined.”
Ownership hopes the next generation of Comets will once again make Houston the center of women’s basketball.
“We want to replicate the success,” Fertitta said. “Yeah, that’s the number one thing.”
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