Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta on Monday publicly acknowledged his deal to purchase and relocate the Connecticut Sun, all while his front office began fast-tracking a Houston Comets website and a ticket deposit plan for the 2027 season.
At 9am ET Monday, the Rockets and Fertitta Entertainment launched houstoncomets.com, where fans could place a $99 per seat deposit and secure priority access to next year’s season tickets.
“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,” said Rockets Alternate Governor Patrick Fertitta after his father’s company agreed to pay a record $300M to the Mohegan Tribe for the Sun.
The Comets were one of the WNBA’s eight original franchises in 1997 and also the original dynasty, winning the league’s first four titles behind HOFers Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and coach Van Chancellor. But their demise in 2008 shows how much the league has evolved the past 18 years.
The franchise’s original owner, Les Alexander, had sold the Comets to Houston furniture tycoon Hilton Koch in 2007, but Koch lost a reported $4M on the team right away and wasn’t generating much interest locally, either. To reduce costs, he moved the team from Toyota Center to the matchbox 7,200-seat Reliant Arena, but it was far from a salve.
The WNBA, in 2008, assumed control of the team, but could not locate a buyer and disbanded the franchise after the season, costing 37 employees their jobs. “You can’t ignore the fact this team was the engine that drove the league,” then-WNBA President Donna Orender said of the Comets at the time. “…Maybe one day the corporate and city leaders [of Houston] will aggregate their resources and resurrect a formidable franchise.”
That day is Monday, although the WNBA’s Board of Governors still needs to approve the purchase. While the team will not hold a formal press conference until the sale closes — likely in two to three weeks — sources said the Sun’s final season in Connecticut this year will be a collaborative effort between the Sun and Comets front offices. With free agency looming in early April, the future of the Comets’ roster will soon take form.
Considering Fertitta’s net worth is reportedly above $12B, the franchise should have the financial wherewithal to improve on last season’s 11-33 record, the worst winning percentage since the franchise launched as the Orlando Miracle in 1999. The Sun, though, lost its lottery slot this season due a pick swap, and will instead have the 12th and 15th overall selections in the April 13 draft.