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(June 2, 2002)
SAN
ANTONIO TX (June 2, 2002) Prominent WNBA analysts said that the
league should relocate a team to San Antonio for the 2003 season
instead of placing an expansion team here, as league president
Val Ackerman suggested last week. That and this report from The
San Antonio Express News' Jennifer Bellis. ESPN
analyst Geno Auriemma (who coached Connecticut to the women's
national championship this past spring), ESPN announcer Michelle
Tafoya and NBC analyst Ann Meyers were in agreement during a
morning teleconference that the 6-year-old WNBA is not ready to
add a 17th team. "If
the league asks me, which they probably won't, I would tell them
it's not time to add a team, but try to make the existing
franchises as strong as possible," Auriemma said. Meyers,
who has worked as an analyst since the league was formed, also
said the time is not right for expansion. "I
think it has expanded too quickly," Meyers said. "I
thought the last expansion was too much. If they want to move a
franchise and go somewhere that draws better, I see nothing
wrong with that." Right
now, the most viable city in which to relocate a team is San
Antonio, although there are talks of eventually having a team in
the Oakland, Calif., area. The
Spurs are already in the process of bringing a team to the Alamo
City, but first must secure 6,000 season-ticket deposits by Nov.
15 in order to guarantee a team. So far, 2,800 deposits have
been made. If the ticket requirement is met, the league will
decide if it wants to relocate a franchise or assign an
expansion team. Right
now, Ackerman said San Antonio would be an expansion city, which
would bring the league to 17 teams. The San Antonio franchise
would play in the Western Conference. "Our
intent is for it to be an expansion team, a 17th team,"
Ackerman said. "We weren't really primed to expand again,
but the Spurs made such a compelling case for expansion and we
knew that the television viewership was very high there, even
though they didn't have a team. That factored into our
decision." The
analysts, and many within the league, agree that moving a
struggling team would be the better answer. Charlotte, Detroit
and Utah are among the franchises mentioned as a possible
relocation team, with Charlotte as the leading candidate. The
NBA's Charlotte Hornets are moving to New Orleans, which leaves
the Sting as the only WNBA team without an NBA partner. "If
Charlotte needs an NBA team to attach to, then move the team to
San Antonio," Tafoya said. "I would rather see that
than expansion at this juncture." But
the league has moved personnel to Charlotte and is determined to
make a team work there. Ackerman said she would eventually like
to place teams in non-NBA cities, with Hartford, Conn., near the
top of the list. "Charlotte
does represent a test case for a new model," Ackerman said.
"We are in the process of revisiting our operating model
with an eye to making changes that would in fact allow for the
operation of WNBA teams in non-NBA cities, and potentially, the
infusion of non-NBA ownership into teams in NBA cities. Both of
those scenarios would be possible under some of the changes that
we're contemplating." But
Tafoya doesn't think that model will work. "I
think it will be difficult for a WNBA team to operate on its own
without the NBA," she said. That and this report from The
San Antonio Express News' Jennifer Bellis. [Source:
SportsBusinessNews.com] |
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