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Speaker 1: You guys been working on this obviously behind the scenes

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for quite some time. When the final announcement came through

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and everything was agreed upon, What it was it like

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for the family, for yourself now with a new project

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here bringing the comments back after a long absence.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, it is. It is so excited. Tilman

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is very excited, obviously is far away but has been

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so engaged and passionate about about this process. And Pat

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Yourik and Page and the entire family and our organization

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and the fans and the community are just over the moon.

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So very We're very excited to get this across the

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finish line, get kind of the official approval and go

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from there. But yesterday's announcement was a big first step

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for us.

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Speaker 1: It is amazing to me. New television deals and look,

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you know this from the NBA World television deals make

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the world go around, having stars, having the ability to

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use social media. That w BNBA is a different animal

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than it was, say twenty years ago. In this team

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in the city, we're had one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah for sure. I mean the growth been exponential and

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it's been steadily growing for years, and then over the

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last couple of years it was a tipping point where

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it just you know, kind of exploded exponentially. But like anything,

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I mean, the WNBA has always had very strong passionate fans.

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It's a phenomenal brand of basketball. But if it's not

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accessible to the general public, it's really hard to grow

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new fans. So just the media and the television exposure

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that you've seen grow over the last five to seven

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years has been gigantic, and you've seen it and the

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growth and the popularity.

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Speaker 1: Of the sport Grist and your president of the Rockets

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and now comments joining us here on the Matt Thomas

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Show with Ross. You know, Cynthia and Tina and Cheryl,

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I mean, how much will you try to integrate the

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pass to the future of the Houston Comments.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's super important, right, So the legacy

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is important. I think that I am so I talked

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to you know, I was able to call it Tina

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and Cynthia and Cheryl and obviously they've been supported through

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this whole process and Van Chancellor and I was able

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to talk to them Friday afternoon after you know that

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the news started to leak and I'm just personally, I'm

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so excited for them. I mean, they were they built.

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You know, they were the foundation that helped build what

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is the WNBA you know today thirty years later, and

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when it's not live in your market, you know, it's

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they're not always front and center. So the fact that

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the legacy and how talented and just legendary those players

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and coaches were, that that's brought back to the forefront

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of this game. I'm so excited for them. So right now,

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we definitely are going to be celebrating them and the

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history that they built and the return of that legacy

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in the dynasty and as you know, as we get

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to you know, completion and the season starts, will certainly

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be celebrating the game where it is today and educating

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fans new fans on just the growth of the WNBA

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and what they had to look forward to in twenty

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twenty seven when this team comes to Houston.

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Speaker 1: You brought up the history, so it kind of made

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me one or is this going to be like a

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Cleveland Brown's situation. What's going to happen with like team

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records and all that stuff. With the as it relates

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to the Sun and the Comets.

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Speaker 2: You are asking questions that I cannot answer.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, well, well you can blame me again. Yeah,

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that's all part I'm over too.

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Speaker 2: All part of stuff that yeah, all part of stuff

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that we will that we that we're working with the

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w NBA on as we as we finalize and complete

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this process.

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Speaker 1: Gretchen share with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety

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and just overall your thoughts question of what you've seen

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as a woman of course in a male dominated space

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and in men men's sports, the growth of women's sports

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and what we're seeing with the NBA and I mean

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a volleyball and really all over the country and women's

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sports in general.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, game is game, right, So I think with the

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increased exposure, you know, the world is recognizing how talented

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these women are and what they bring to the court

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or to the field every single day. They're getting the

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respect and the pay that they have earned and built,

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and you know a lot of that is due to

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not only the media. You know, obviously the media exposure,

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but the media exposure wouldn't be there if the fans

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weren't there. And so I'm just proud of the world.

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I am proud of sports fans for supporting women's sports

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and helping grow the game, and we knew, you know,

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as we started looking through this process about and about

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bringing the WNBA back and bringing the comments back, you

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could just feel the excitement from you know, fans of

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the team from the past and fans from the WNBA today,

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the business community eager to support women's sports fans like

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you could feel it bubbling up under the surface. And

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yesterday when we were able to make the official announcement

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and launch our deposit campaign, we had some pretty high

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expectations and they exceeded Yesterday exceeded all of our expectations.

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And you know us, we're pretty aggressive and pretty competitive,

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so we feel we feel really good about where this

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team is going to be when it launches in twenty

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twenty seven, and we're going to need everybody listening to

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make sure they put their deposit down and come out

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to support this team as we relaunched this franchise.

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Speaker 1: And I'm assuming call in the office, is there a

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website or what's going on socially in terms of farming.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Houston Comments dot Com is live. So Houston Comments

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dot Com is kind of the central hub of where

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we can have everything that we're able to have as

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we as we complete this, complete this process. But the

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deposit is there. There's some retail that's there celebrating the

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WNBA's return to Houston. That's where you can find kind

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of upcoming stuff on where to follow us on social media.

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There's a Facebook page, there's an Instagram page, there's an

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x page already ready to go. From the comments, obviously

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having the partner brand right in the Houston Rockets, you know,

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we're able to amplify that message while we build the

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comments independent fanbase, and the.

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Speaker 1: Schedule is going to expand, right There'll be more games

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in the future years correct, there.

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Speaker 2: Will be more games. You know, the terms the agreed

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upon has been done by the CBA. The league is

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papering that right now, and they'll be expanding by a

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handful of games over the next several years. Exactly how

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that plays out each year, I think they're finalizing in

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those terms, but they'll play. It looks like they'll get

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up to fifty in the in the next few years,

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which will be twenty five home games, give or take.

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Speaker 1: Gretchen. There's a lot of new expansion teams. Last year,

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Golden State Toronto's going to have a new team. Portland

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have you been able to bug them about what to

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do what not to do in terms of trying to

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build a new franchise in a new city, especially in

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some of those cases that are bringing back basketball.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we have, and then Cleveland. Cleveland is twenty eight,

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and then Detroit and Philly will be added as well. Yeah,

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I mean that's the great That's the great thing about

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having the infrastructure of the NBA and your colleagues that

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we can learn people's best best practices, we can learn

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from people's mistake. I mean, we're in a bit of

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a different situation. We have a year to do this,

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whereas many of them have several years to do it.

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So we are doing it. Put on the gas, no

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break to get ready for next year. So we certainly

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will take some lessons learned and some best practices, but

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we're going to have to do a lot of this

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on our own as well, given given the timeline.

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Speaker 1: All and again reminding folks, it's the comments Houston comments

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dot Com. You can also call the office and all

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the Instagram and Twitter for information about those tickets. Correct, Yes, sir,

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all right, we'll leave it at that. Congratulations on you

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guys work on this for a very long period of time. Uh,

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and look forward to seeing By the way, do you

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maybe on a van answers? Do you own the logo

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and all that good stuff or what's going on with

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like the old school stuff. Do you want to create

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a new logo? What's what's in the works on that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're working. Yeah, we're working through all of that

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process right now. I think it's really important to honor

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the legacy of the brand and the name that elicits

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so many amazing memories for fans, while also making sure

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that we're stepping into the future and we're creating, you know,

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a look and feel that matches the next decades as well.

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Speaker 1: Awesome, Gretch and thanks for time, and we'll see you

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tonight at the building.