Group Interested In Bringing WNBA Team To Atlanta

Mullin Says Atlanta Spirit Would Welcome WNBA Team As Philips Arena Tenant

The WNBA has told Atlanta Spirit, which owns the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights, that “there is interest in bringing a team to the city,” according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Atlanta Spirit President & CEO Bernie Mullin said the WNBA “approached us to provide lease terms” for Philips Arena. 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.” Mullin: “It’s all very preliminary.” Mullin also noted that Atlanta Spirit “would not own the team.” But Mullin said, “Just as with the [AFL] Georgia Force, we’d welcome (a WNBA team) as a tenant in the building and support the team in every way we could.” Bob Hope, President of Atlanta-based PR firm Hope-Beckham, said that he has “spoken with the WNBA about his interest in having a team in Atlanta” and that 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.” Hope, a former Braves and Hawks exec who also owned the Colorado Silver Bullets, a women’s pro baseball team, in the ’90s, said that he has “spoken with a potential primary investor from out of state and other potential investors in Atlanta” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/7).