Speaker 1: You guys been working on this obviously behind the scenes
for quite some time. When the final announcement came through
and everything was agreed upon, What it was it like
for the family, for yourself now with a new project
here bringing the comments back after a long absence.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, it is. It is so excited. Tilman
is very excited, obviously is far away but has been
so engaged and passionate about about this process. And Pat
Yourik and Page and the entire family and our organization
and the fans and the community are just over the moon.
So very We're very excited to get this across the
finish line, get kind of the official approval and go
from there. But yesterday's announcement was a big first step
for us.
Speaker 1: It is amazing to me. New television deals and look,
you know this from the NBA World television deals make
the world go around, having stars, having the ability to
use social media. That w BNBA is a different animal
than it was, say twenty years ago. In this team
in the city, we're had one.
Speaker 2: Yeah for sure. I mean the growth been exponential and
it's been steadily growing for years, and then over the
last couple of years it was a tipping point where
it just you know, kind of exploded exponentially. But like anything,
I mean, the WNBA has always had very strong passionate fans.
It's a phenomenal brand of basketball. But if it's not
accessible to the general public, it's really hard to grow
new fans. So just the media and the television exposure
that you've seen grow over the last five to seven
years has been gigantic, and you've seen it and the
growth and the popularity.
Speaker 1: Of the sport Grist and your president of the Rockets
and now comments joining us here on the Matt Thomas
Show with Ross. You know, Cynthia and Tina and Cheryl,
I mean, how much will you try to integrate the
pass to the future of the Houston Comments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's super important, right, So the legacy
is important. I think that I am so I talked
to you know, I was able to call it Tina
and Cynthia and Cheryl and obviously they've been supported through
this whole process and Van Chancellor and I was able
to talk to them Friday afternoon after you know that
the news started to leak and I'm just personally, I'm
so excited for them. I mean, they were they built.
You know, they were the foundation that helped build what
is the WNBA you know today thirty years later, and
when it's not live in your market, you know, it's
they're not always front and center. So the fact that
the legacy and how talented and just legendary those players
and coaches were, that that's brought back to the forefront
of this game. I'm so excited for them. So right now,
we definitely are going to be celebrating them and the
history that they built and the return of that legacy
in the dynasty and as you know, as we get
to you know, completion and the season starts, will certainly
be celebrating the game where it is today and educating
fans new fans on just the growth of the WNBA
and what they had to look forward to in twenty
twenty seven when this team comes to Houston.
Speaker 1: You brought up the history, so it kind of made
me one or is this going to be like a
Cleveland Brown's situation. What's going to happen with like team
records and all that stuff. With the as it relates
to the Sun and the Comets.
Speaker 2: You are asking questions that I cannot answer.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, well, well you can blame me again. Yeah,
that's all part I'm over too.
Speaker 2: All part of stuff that yeah, all part of stuff
that we will that we that we're working with the
w NBA on as we as we finalize and complete
this process.
Speaker 1: Gretchen share with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety
and just overall your thoughts question of what you've seen
as a woman of course in a male dominated space
and in men men's sports, the growth of women's sports
and what we're seeing with the NBA and I mean
a volleyball and really all over the country and women's
sports in general.
Speaker 2: Yeah, game is game, right, So I think with the
increased exposure, you know, the world is recognizing how talented
these women are and what they bring to the court
or to the field every single day. They're getting the
respect and the pay that they have earned and built,
and you know a lot of that is due to
not only the media. You know, obviously the media exposure,
but the media exposure wouldn't be there if the fans
weren't there. And so I'm just proud of the world.
I am proud of sports fans for supporting women's sports
and helping grow the game, and we knew, you know,
as we started looking through this process about and about
bringing the WNBA back and bringing the comments back, you
could just feel the excitement from you know, fans of
the team from the past and fans from the WNBA today,
the business community eager to support women's sports fans like
you could feel it bubbling up under the surface. And
yesterday when we were able to make the official announcement
and launch our deposit campaign, we had some pretty high
expectations and they exceeded Yesterday exceeded all of our expectations.
And you know us, we're pretty aggressive and pretty competitive,
so we feel we feel really good about where this
team is going to be when it launches in twenty
twenty seven, and we're going to need everybody listening to
make sure they put their deposit down and come out
to support this team as we relaunched this franchise.
Speaker 1: And I'm assuming call in the office, is there a
website or what's going on socially in terms of farming.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Houston Comments dot Com is live. So Houston Comments
dot Com is kind of the central hub of where
we can have everything that we're able to have as
we as we complete this, complete this process. But the
deposit is there. There's some retail that's there celebrating the
WNBA's return to Houston. That's where you can find kind
of upcoming stuff on where to follow us on social media.
There's a Facebook page, there's an Instagram page, there's an
x page already ready to go. From the comments, obviously
having the partner brand right in the Houston Rockets, you know,
we're able to amplify that message while we build the
comments independent fanbase, and the.
Speaker 1: Schedule is going to expand, right There'll be more games
in the future years correct, there.
Speaker 2: Will be more games. You know, the terms the agreed
upon has been done by the CBA. The league is
papering that right now, and they'll be expanding by a
handful of games over the next several years. Exactly how
that plays out each year, I think they're finalizing in
those terms, but they'll play. It looks like they'll get
up to fifty in the in the next few years,
which will be twenty five home games, give or take.
Speaker 1: Gretchen. There's a lot of new expansion teams. Last year,
Golden State Toronto's going to have a new team. Portland
have you been able to bug them about what to
do what not to do in terms of trying to
build a new franchise in a new city, especially in
some of those cases that are bringing back basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have, and then Cleveland. Cleveland is twenty eight,
and then Detroit and Philly will be added as well. Yeah,
I mean that's the great That's the great thing about
having the infrastructure of the NBA and your colleagues that
we can learn people's best best practices, we can learn
from people's mistake. I mean, we're in a bit of
a different situation. We have a year to do this,
whereas many of them have several years to do it.
So we are doing it. Put on the gas, no
break to get ready for next year. So we certainly
will take some lessons learned and some best practices, but
we're going to have to do a lot of this
on our own as well, given given the timeline.
Speaker 1: All and again reminding folks, it's the comments Houston comments
dot Com. You can also call the office and all
the Instagram and Twitter for information about those tickets. Correct, Yes, sir,
all right, we'll leave it at that. Congratulations on you
guys work on this for a very long period of time. Uh,
and look forward to seeing By the way, do you
maybe on a van answers? Do you own the logo
and all that good stuff or what's going on with
like the old school stuff. Do you want to create
a new logo? What's what's in the works on that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're working. Yeah, we're working through all of that
process right now. I think it's really important to honor
the legacy of the brand and the name that elicits
so many amazing memories for fans, while also making sure
that we're stepping into the future and we're creating, you know,
a look and feel that matches the next decades as well.
Speaker 1: Awesome, Gretch and thanks for time, and we'll see you
tonight at the building.