Hilton and the W
UPDATED, 5/22/08, 10:12 am (CDT) --
The WNBA has been contacted about the rumor mentioned below; however, a league rep stated the rumor was news to them.
I know I haven't written much about the Comets for about a month; but, that's simply because I've been working a contract assignment for a while (gotta pay the bills).
I also know the Houston Chronicle has not provided a lot of Comets coverage over that time span either. (That should change for the better in a few days.)
Earlier this week I was told the WNBA would possibly assume ownership of the Houston Comets from Hilton Koch this season because the league is not happy with how the Comets are currently operating under Mr. Koch.
Well, lo and behold, similar news was mentioned as part of a message board thread I created on Rebkell (a HUGELY popular message board for women's basketball fans) by "BobScoutingReport":
Rumor has it that the league office is very upset with Mr. Koch's handling of the Comets. If things don't change pretty quickly, I would not be surprised if the league stepped in and took over the Comets for the remainder of this season. Note there was significant league involvement with the Comets day to day operation last year. I expect the Comets will have new ownership by next year or be contracted out of existence. I don't know the particulars but it seems the league office would rather contract one year and expand the next rather than just moving a franchise to another city. My guess is the league comes out significantly ahead financially by the contract/expand method. Otherwise it makes no sense!
I was able to get in touch with Hilton Koch this morning; and, he flatly refuted the negative news.
"News to me," Koch replied. "Not much time for negative. Just sold out Game 1 and on the way to a 50 percent increase in Corporate Partners. Oh, and just signed the most favorable radio deal in the WNBA."
The radio deal is expected to be announced within the next few days.
The WNBA has been contacted about the rumor mentioned below; however, a league rep stated the rumor was news to them.
I know I haven't written much about the Comets for about a month; but, that's simply because I've been working a contract assignment for a while (gotta pay the bills).
I also know the Houston Chronicle has not provided a lot of Comets coverage over that time span either. (That should change for the better in a few days.)
Earlier this week I was told the WNBA would possibly assume ownership of the Houston Comets from Hilton Koch this season because the league is not happy with how the Comets are currently operating under Mr. Koch.
Well, lo and behold, similar news was mentioned as part of a message board thread I created on Rebkell (a HUGELY popular message board for women's basketball fans) by "BobScoutingReport":
Rumor has it that the league office is very upset with Mr. Koch's handling of the Comets. If things don't change pretty quickly, I would not be surprised if the league stepped in and took over the Comets for the remainder of this season. Note there was significant league involvement with the Comets day to day operation last year. I expect the Comets will have new ownership by next year or be contracted out of existence. I don't know the particulars but it seems the league office would rather contract one year and expand the next rather than just moving a franchise to another city. My guess is the league comes out significantly ahead financially by the contract/expand method. Otherwise it makes no sense!
I was able to get in touch with Hilton Koch this morning; and, he flatly refuted the negative news.
"News to me," Koch replied. "Not much time for negative. Just sold out Game 1 and on the way to a 50 percent increase in Corporate Partners. Oh, and just signed the most favorable radio deal in the WNBA."
The radio deal is expected to be announced within the next few days.
posted by Kris Gardner @ 9:14 PM
4 Comments:
At Thu May 22, 08:25:00 AM CDT,
Anonymous said…
Sold out?!?! Why does he even try to lie? Go on the ticket website (like I just did) and try to buy 10 tickets. You will have no problem doing so.
At Thu May 22, 08:28:00 AM CDT,
Anonymous said…
game 1 was not sold out at that time. tickets were available late last night.
At Thu May 22, 02:04:00 PM CDT,
Anonymous said…
The ticket website is not working properly. The Home opener is sold out. There are only a few scattered single seats available. There will be a large contingent of league people at this game and we have two full time WNBA employees calling the shots this season. Last year there was just one.
The radio deal was done by the league reps, not Hilton, and it was still being worked out on Wednesday.
The league is more likely to try and find better local ownership than to fold the team. Such talks are going on already.
At Thu May 22, 11:56:00 PM CDT,
Anonymous said…
hmmm, I was able to easily find 2 good seats for the first game on Ticketmaster last night (5/21). I would have thought if it was approaching a sellout at that time that there would only have been "scattered singles" still available. ah, but maybe I just got lucky!
I truly hope the Comets will be successful in this new smaller venue.
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