As the Houston Comets prepare to return to the WNBA through the relocation of the Connecticut Sun, Comets President of Business Operations Gretchen Sheirr “regularly seeks advice from her counterparts with the Valkyries, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo,” who are “happy to help,” according to Megan Greenwell of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Everyone around the WNBA “wants new teams to succeed — needs them to, if the growth is going to continue.” But their positive results also “increase the pressure in Houston.” Sheirr said that one of the most important lessons she has taken from conversations with her peers in S.F. and Portland is that she “doesn’t have to address every priority all at once, even considering the compressed window.” Greenwell wrote new WNBA teams “generally have a couple of years to prepare.” The new Comets got less than 12 months. Houston is inheriting a roster that won barely a quarter of its games last season. The ticketing office has to fill 18,000 seats for a team “that may not win much.” Keeping up with the most financially successful teams will “require colossal corporate partnerships and marketing deals in tandem with success on the court.” Team execs “know everyone around the league is watching what they do,” watching to see whether Rockets and Comets owner Tilman Fertitta’s $11B “can build a WNBA juggernaut and electrify the fourth-largest city in the country or not” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/13).
