The Houston Rockets are putting together a proposal to bring a WNBA franchise back to the city but are currently awaiting further instruction from the league’s representatives, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr confirmed Tuesday.
Although Fertitta had expressed his desire and intent to fund a Houston WNBA team multiple times in recent months, he had not previously disclosed details about talks with the league or a timeline. On Tuesday, at the grand opening of the Rockets’ new training facility, Sheirr said that she is leading the proposal and has engaged with an independent firm hired by the WNBA to lead the expansion process.
In its current round of expansion, the WNBA has awarded franchises to three cities — the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto and Portland — to begin play in 2025 and 2026, and is looking to add a 16th team before 2028.
Sheirr said the WNBA has yet to set a deadline for interested parties to submit proposals.
“The WNBA recently adjusted the process a little bit given the immense interest in a variety of cities across the country, so they hired an outside firm, so we’re obviously working with them,” Sheirr said. “We have all the resources internally, so the city’s gonna play a part of that. But we’re in a good spot right now. We’re in a little bit of a holding pattern to see how they’re going to run this process.”
The Rockets’ bid will be entirely privately funded with Fertitta as the principal investor. Toyota Center is owned by the Harris County Sports Authority, but the Rockets’ lease stipulates that Fertitta has total control over the arena. Although the sports authority would have to sign off on a WNBA team at some point, the Rockets are firmly in the driver’s seat.
Nashville, South Florida, Philadelphia, Denver and Austin are among the other cities vying for a WNBA franchise. Most of those cities have been involved in the expansion process for months, if not years.
Fertitta acknowledged on Tuesday that the Rockets “came in a little late to the game,” but said he believes Houston is a strong expansion candidate because of the Rockets’ existing infrastructure.
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“I felt like it’s time to step up, and the city of Houston deserves a WNBA team for all the young female athletes that live in the city,” Fertitta said. “Are we going to try to get it? Yes. Do I think that we’re in the top 50% just because of the strength of our NBA team and our leadership here? But it’s not an automatic. Do we want it? Yes, we’re going to put together a great bid.”
See here for the previous update. As the story notes, the cost of a WNBA franchise has gone up since the first expansion team was awarded, but it’s still well within his means. If he wants it, he can afford it. Whether we get it or not remains to be seen, but we ought to be genuine contenders. I’m rooting for him. The Press has more.