The WNBA’s pending plan to relocate the Connecticut Sun to Houston in 2027 and revive the Comets franchise seems to have hit a snag. A Delaware-based limited liability company called TSTM Holdings applied to trademark the Comets’ name in 2024, after the W allowed its rights to lapse in 2021, leaving the league’s ability to reuse the name uncertain.
The W realized another company had already submitted a trademark application for the name when it attempted to do the same in early 2025, and it filed a notice of opposition a few months later. TSTM Holdings has no known ties to professional basketball but claims in its bid that it intends to use the name for clothing, decals, sporting goods, digital media, and “entertainment in the nature of live basketball games.”
The Comets were among the original eight WNBA franchises when the league debuted in 1997. The historic franchise won the first four championships in a row before inconsistent ownership led to the team’s folding in 2008.
In March 2026, the Houston Rockets ownership group, led by Tilman Fertitta, announced that it had agreed to buy the Sun and relocate the team back to Houston, reviving the defunct franchise. While the agreement still needs final approval from the WNBA’s Board of Governors, Houston has already advertised the return of the franchise under the Comets name.
“My family and I are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the Houston Comets back to this incredible city,” Rockets Alternate Governor Patrick Fertitta said in a press release at the time the deal was announced. “We believe the time is right to begin the next great era of Comets basketball, and we look forward to working with the WNBA as we move through this process.”
There’s no way of knowing how long the trademark office will take to finalize its decision, but law experts have said that there’s also nothing stopping the WNBA from currently moving forward with branding the Houston team as the Comets.
The WNBA’s pending plan to relocate the Connecticut Sun to Houston in 2027 and revive the Comets franchise seems to have hit a snag. A Delaware-based limited liability company called TSTM Holdings applied to trademark the Comets’ name in 2024, after the W allowed its rights to lapse in 2021, leaving the league’s ability to reuse the name uncertain.