Mar 28, 2026
3 min read
The WNBA is returning to Houston thanks to the push (and financial commitment) of Tillman Fertitta and the Rockets franchise.Get ready for the return of the Houston Rockets
The Fertitta family reaches an agreement to bring the WNBA back to Houston with the purchase of the Connecticut Sun - a PaperCity exclusive.
The Comets are back with an official announcement expected next week
By Chris Baldwin // The Houston Comets are back, thanks to Tilman Fertitta.This is a huge win for Houston and the WNBA.
The Fertitta family has reached an agreement to buy the Connecticut Sun and bring the WNBA back to Houston, with some official announcement expected next week, according to PaperCity.The deal has been "made informal," a source tells PaperCity.The team is expected to be named after the city's former favorite WNBA team, the Houston Comets.
The Fertitta family, which owns the Houston Rockets, is buying the Connecticut Sun, and the current WNBA franchise will move to H-Town and is expected to begin its first season in the Bayou City in 2027. This is a huge win for Houston, basketball and women’s sports.Houston's WNBA franchise, which joined the Comets in 2008, has long been looking for a WNBA team to round out its roster, largely due to poor ownership.The Comets won the first four WNBA championships from 1997 to 2000.
Now, the Comets are back in the WNBA more popular than ever, with a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that will increase the salary to $7 million per team.The Houston Comets' new season has one of the best organizations in the NBA behind them.
The new-era Comets will play at the Toyota Center - and will have access to the kind of analytical data that top sports organizations rely on.But the biggest winners in this whole monumental deal are Houston sports fans.Now Houston has a signature franchise for women's sports.Tilman Fertitta talked about bringing the WNBA back to Houston as the right thing to do.It's about strengthening the city he loves more than making money.
Even for the guy who knows the bottom line of all his business.Tilman Fertitta Know Your NumbersBut some things are more than numbers.
Fertitta is the U.S. Ambassador to Italy and his future could include even greater political roles.But he still wants to get justice for Houston.Tilman Fertitta is an international celebrity at this point, but he and his family — including his son Patrick Fertitta, alternate governor of the Houston Rockets and first-year Board of Trustees at the University of Houston — are as committed to making an impact on Houston, the city that Tilman considers his eternal home, as they have been in the past.
Bringing the WNBA back to Houston certainly does that.
