HOUSTON \u2013 The WNBA is set to return to Houston, with plans to revive one of the league\u2019s most historic franchises.<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta, through his company Fertitta Entertainment, has entered into an agreement to purchase the Connecticut Sun and relocate the franchise to Houston. Pending league approval, the team is expected to begin play in 2027 at Toyota Center.<\/p>\n
The move would bring back the Houston Comets name, a franchise that helped define the early years of the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family and I are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the Houston Comets back to this incredible city,\u201d said Patrick Fertitta, the Rockets\u2019 alternate governor. \u201cHouston has a proud championship history in the WNBA, with banners from the Comets\u2019 four historic championship seasons still hanging in the rafters of Toyota Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Comets were one of the WNBA\u2019s original eight teams and became the league\u2019s first dynasty, winning four consecutive championships from 1997 to 2000. The team folded in 2008.<\/p>\n
During their 12-season run, the Comets made nine playoff appearances and featured several Hall of Fame players, including Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson, under head coach Van Chancellor.<\/p>\n
Team officials say there is already strong local interest in bringing women\u2019s professional basketball back to Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an exciting time for our organization as we welcome the WNBA back to the City of Houston and revive the legacy of the Comets,\u201d said Gretchen Sheirr, president of business operations. \u201cThe momentum and enthusiasm have been evident through the overwhelming interest from fans and the business community.\u201d<\/p>\n
If approved, the return would mark a major investment in women\u2019s sports in Houston and restore a franchise that once helped put the city at the center of the WNBA\u2019s early success.<\/p>\n
League approval is still pending.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The WNBA is set to return to Houston, with plans to revive one of the league\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,33615,58,57,87930,87932,154,14422,87931,87933],"class_list":{"0":"post-227177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-basketball","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-houston-sports-news","13":"tag-houston-womens-sports","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-wnba","16":"tag-wnba-houston","17":"tag-womens-professional-basketball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}