Marion Jones signs with WNBA team in Oklahoma

[ringer]

Cool or not cool?

Discuss...

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

How's their dental plan?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

If Mark McGwire can drug up and then lie about it in his return to baseball, Marion Jones can do whatever the hell she wants.

 

[John]

The biggest surprise of the story for me was that the team in Detroit had moved to Tulsa, and had Nolan Richardson as its coach.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

It was either that, or more prison.

 

[Starman]

The biggest surprise of the story for me was that the team in Detroit had moved to Tulsa, and had Nolan Richardson as its coach.

After moving the franchise, they spent several months in intensive study to come up with an appropriate name. As the excitement and anticipation over the dynamic new appellation reached a thunderous fever pitch, it was announced six or eight weeks ago. In case you didn't notice (nobody did), here it is:

http://www.wnba.com/shock/news/shock_naming.html

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

What's worse, a female prison or a WNBA locker room?

 

[ucacm]

Are there any financially viable WNBA franchises?

I know the Houston Comets folded a couple of years ago, Detroit has now moved to Tulsa, and Sacramento's franchise isn't in Sacramento anymore. This means that the teams responsible 8 of the 13 WNBA champions are either not in existence or have moved to a new city.

 

[Football_Bat]

I think the Connecticut Sun are doing OK, but I think they're also drafting off UConn's heat to a large degree.

 

[apeman33]

Are there any financially viable WNBA franchises?

I know the Houston Comets folded a couple of years ago, Detroit has now moved to Tulsa, and Sacramento's franchise isn't in Sacramento anymore. This means that the teams responsible 8 of the 13 WNBA champions are either not in existence or have moved to a new city.

Of the 8 original franchises, who's left? L.A., New York and Phoenix. Charlotte, Cleveland and Houston don't exist in any form. Utah moved to San Antonio. I don't know if Sacramento is considered defunct or just inactive. Independent baseball leagues have less change than this.

 

[Starman]

Are there any financially viable WNBA franchises?

I know the Houston Comets folded a couple of years ago, Detroit has now moved to Tulsa, and Sacramento's franchise isn't in Sacramento anymore. This means that the teams responsible 8 of the 13 WNBA champions are either not in existence or have moved to a new city.

Actually, the Shock was probably about as viable a franchise as any (i.e., they lost less money than most franchises; they had the fourth-highest attendance in the league in 2009). Mainly, after the death of Pistons owner Bill Davidson, his widow was looking to sell off pieces of the Palace empire one by one for whatever they could bring, and the Tulsa group was looking to buy.

I give the league about two more years.

 

[Clerk Typist]

What's worse, a female prison or a WNBA locker room?

Yes.

 

[crimsonace]

I give the league about two more years.

As long as it serves as a tax write-off and good PR game (and keeps the buildings open during the summer), it might continue to be semi-viable.

 

[Den1983]

I give the league about two more years.

People have been saying that for years now. As long as the NBA is supporting it, the WNBA isn't going anywhere.

 

[HanSenSE]

Are there any financially viable WNBA franchises?

I know the Houston Comets folded a couple of years ago, Detroit has now moved to Tulsa, and Sacramento's franchise isn't in Sacramento anymore. This means that the teams responsible 8 of the 13 WNBA champions are either not in existence or have moved to a new city.

Of the 8 original franchises, who's left? L.A., New York and Phoenix. Charlotte, Cleveland and Houston don't exist in any form. Utah moved to San Antonio. I don't know if Sacramento is considered defunct or just inactive. Independent baseball leagues have less change than this.

Yes, Sacramento is kaput, players already resdistributed. Last I heard, WNBA was talking about putting a new team in Oakland or San Jose next season.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Are there any financially viable WNBA franchises?

I know the Houston Comets folded a couple of years ago, Detroit has now moved to Tulsa, and Sacramento's franchise isn't in Sacramento anymore. This means that the teams responsible 8 of the 13 WNBA champions are either not in existence or have moved to a new city.

Of the 8 original franchises, who's left? L.A., New York and Phoenix. Charlotte, Cleveland and Houston don't exist in any form. Utah moved to San Antonio. I don't know if Sacramento is considered defunct or just inactive. Independent baseball leagues have less change than this.

Different time and all that, but the NBA and NFL had plenty of franchises folding in the first dozen years of each league's existence.

WNBA has a solid niche with their 5,000 fans or so per game, but that's all they have.

 

[KJIM]

Only in Detr... oh, wait.

 

[Starman]

I give the league about two more years.

People have been saying that for years now. As long as the NBA is supporting it, the WNBA isn't going anywhere.

Well, the NBA severed its direct subsidation of the league a couple years ago (coincidentally the time Houston pulled the plug; since then the established franchises have been dropping at the rate of a couple a year). While the NBA still provides organizational and public-relations support (and the purely ceremonial TV coverage), since then it has been up to each franchise owner as to whether they want to continue operations at a loss.

And of course, since then, the economy has gone into a power-dive. Aside from their hard core of a couple thousand fans, going to WNBA games has always been a luxury/impulse decision for sports fans. When budgets get tighter, those luxury/impulse items are always the first to go.

The big-daddy NBA itself is having financial problems, not nearly as severe as some cassandras like Simmons would have you believe, but pretty significant. Keeping the WNBA alive will be pretty far down on the priority list of the various franchises.