Thursday, January 04, 2007
A Blow to the League
Another franchise has folded. The Charlotte Sting have been abandoned by the struggling NBA franchise the Charlotte Bobcats. The WNBA kept the team alive after they were abandoned by their previous NBA owner the former Charlotte Hornets who are now the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. The league has not followed this time and there will be a dispersal draft in the coming months. This is sad for the league and even the teams that benefit from the skills of Charlotte's players in the draft will feel the effects of another team folding. This will drive even more parity in the remaining teams, but reduce the opportunities available to professional women players in the near future.
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Patrick - it is sad Charlotte folded, but it looks like a team might be coming to Atlanta soon.
ATLANTA (January 31, 2007) – Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) President A.J. Robinson announced today that the private Downtown business organization has set up an exploratory committee to look into the possibility of securing a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise for the City of Atlanta in 2008.
“Atlanta has an extremely strong professional sports platform and we believe our City is very open to having a WNBA team here. It brings more diversity to our sports mix and provides, yet another draw for our growing Downtown neighborhood,” said Robinson.
According to Robinson, CAP has had very promising discussions about the idea with the WBNA League office over the past few months. “They were very open to the idea and think the draw of women’s basketball and financial dynamics of our market hold some very promising options.”
“At this point, CAP is facilitating the effort; however, at a point down the road, I’m sure there will be other entities involved in the process,” said Robinson.
Robinson went on to say that the exploratory committee had been put in place with the following individuals serving: Representative Stacey Abrams, Georgia House District 84; Madelyn R. Adams; Lisa Borders, Cousins Properties; Valerie Hartman Levy; Lara Hodgson; Bob Hope, Hope-Beckham; Danita Knight, consultant; and Louise Sams, Turner Broadcasting System.
“When your City is known for openness, opportunity, and optimism; and as the ‘Sports Capital of the South’, the WNBA possibility fits very well,” said Robinson.
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