WNBA eyes Atlanta franchise By TIM TUCKER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 11/07/06 The women's professional basketball league, the WNBA, has told Hawks-Thrashers owner Atlanta Spirit that there is interest in bringing a team to the city. "The WNBA has indicated to us that they have potential investors [interested in putting a team here]," Atlanta Spirit president and CEO Bernie Mullin said. "The league approached us to provide lease terms [under which a team could play in Philips Arena, which is operated by the Atlanta Spirit]. We have provided that." The WNBA is a 10-year-old league with 14 teams, all but one of them in NBA cities. The WNBA, which is backed by the NBA, has expressed interest in growing to 16 teams. It also is possible that a team could be relocated from another city. Mullin expects the WNBA to pass along his proposed arena lease terms to its potential investors, but he said he doesn't know who those investors are. "We anticipate in the very near future we'll talk to those folks," he said. "It's all very preliminary." Atlanta public relations executive Bob Hope, a member of the executive committee of the Women's Sports Foundation, said he has spoken with the WNBA about his interest in having a team in Atlanta. Hope said he is attempting to "facilitate" assembly of an ownership group, although his group might not be the investors the WNBA was referring to in its discussions with Mullin. "As an organization, we have a passion for women's sports, and we know how to promote sports," said Hope, president of Atlanta-based PR and event marketing firm Hope-Beckham. "So I think if we did it, we'd do it right, with flair. "And you need to be in it for the right reason, which is to create opportunities for women in sports. ... My goal is to get a viable team here in Atlanta." Hope, a former Braves and Hawks executive who owned a women's pro baseball team, the Colorado Silver Bullets, in the 1990s, said he has spoken with a potential primary investor from out of state and other potential investors in Atlanta. The WNBA declined to comment on the Atlanta situation, saying it doesn't normally comment on specific possible sites for teams. All but three WNBA teams have ownership ties to NBA teams. But Atlanta Spirit "would not own the team," Mullin said, if one comes to Atlanta. "Obviously, in the middle of our ownership conflict would not be an appropriate time to consider adding another entity," Mullin said. "And until we get these two franchises [Hawks and Thrashers] where we want them to be, they are our sole focus. "But just as with the Georgia Force [an Arena Football League team that is owned by Arthur Blank and plays its home games in Philips Arena], we'd welcome [a WNBA team] as a tenant in the building and support the team in every way we could." WNBA teams play a 34-game schedule, plus playoffs. The season runs from late April through early September. "From our perspective, it would be complementary to what we're doing," Mullin said. The WNBA announced an average attendance of about 8,000 fans per game this year. 资料来源 http://myurl.com.tw/cl1b 这篇就当作关心篮球吧XD --

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