Houston Comets disbanding...

[mb227]

rather disappointing news from last night. Official announcement is supposed to be made today, although the team learned of the decision yesterday.

The disappointment was compounded on a personal level by the fact that I had just acuired season tickets for them for the upcoming season that would have put me between the bench and the scorers table at courtside.

Hopefully the league can find an owner to purchase the team and keep it in Houston for the 2010 season, but for 2009, there will be no WNBA in Houston.

And yes, I realize there was no direct Longhorn content in the post, but former 'horns still came through Houston as players and I was looking forward to seeing some of them playing at 'the next level.' It is a sad day for women's sports at the professional level...

 

[tott10]

that is a bummer. i didn't make it to houston to watch many games, but i was there when they won their 1st WNBA championship. it was an awesome experience. sad to think they won't be around anymore.

 

[MikeUT00]

Yahoo! article about it

 

[Bill in Sinton]

 

[TXSNOS]

very disappointing

 

[jamaebarrow]

Gail G makes 1 million per year. She should save up her money, buy a WNBA team and bring it to Austin. Then she can be head coach of a college team and owner of a WNBA team.

 

[rosevilleblock]

I've always wondered how much do WNBA players make. Does anyone know. It shouldnt cost that much to be owner of a WNBA team or does it?

 

[mb227]

Other than the top names, they make little (relatively speaking) but salary for the team and support staff alone will still top $1M per year plus all of the front office personnel that probably are in the $30-50K/yr range on average.

There is a lot of salary information to be found in the collective bargaining agreement that used to be on the WNBA site in a .pdf format. I had it downloaded at one point in time when I considered looking at moving into sports law.

Add in that the facilities lease agreements probably cost a small chunk of change and it can easily be a few million a year at a minimum just in basic expenses for the local operation...then factor in travel and it is not inconceivable to be pushing $4-5M per year...

And that rough estimate takes into account the bandbox they were set to play in (Reliant only holds about 7-8K per game). A larger arena would increase expenses but I don't know by what factor.

So, while the costs may not be as much as with other sports, you still need to have some deep pockets to get started even at that level...and be able to expect at least a couple of years to get marketing to the point of being able to at least break even.

As an aside, I have gotten my generic email from the WNBA President that checks will be cut in the amounts paid to date for the 2009 season tickets. Supposedly, those show up in about a month...