Stern Responds To Trend Of NBA Owners Cutting WNBA Ties

Stern Offers Positive Spin To Move To Fold Sting

Bobcats Sports & Entertainment’s move to relinquish control of the Sting to the WNBA “follows an evolving trend –- an increasing number of NBA owners cutting ties with their sister franchises,” according to Kelsie Smith of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. But NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league’s subsequent move to fold the Sting “was the stronger act for the WNBA. It was saying, OK there will be future opportunities for expansion.” Stern added, “I’m not going to sugarcoat the fact that we would’ve liked to have not folded Charlotte. (But) the NBA support for the WNBA is a rounding error of our marketing expenses overall. ... We view (the WNBA) as a serious investment in marketing to women.” Lynx COO Roger Griffith said that team owner Glen Taylor, who also owns the T’Wolves, “is dedicated to both teams.” Griffith: “We just look at it as we’re one organization” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/14). With the folding of the Sting, the sale of the Sparks and the potential sale of the Comets, the DAILY HERALD’s Patricia Babcock McGraw wondered if WNBA fans have “hit the panic button yet? I haven’t, but let’s just say that my hand has hovered closely above it lately.” WNBA President Donna Orender: “Companies are bought and sold all the time and it doesn’t mean the company is bad. It just means it’s being taken in a different direction.” Chicago Sky Owner Michael Alter said, “I don’t look at any of this as instability. I look at it as a positive transition to ownership that is very committed and has a deeper understanding of what the product it” (DAILY HERALD 1/13).

HOMETOWN HEROES: In Minneapolis, Jim Souhan wrote local women’s basketball fans have “blamed the Lynx” for not trading for former Univ. of Minnesota (UM) G Lindsay Whalen or selecting former UM C Janel McCarville in the dispersal draft of Sting players, but “the onus shouldn’t be on the team, it should be on the league office, for not instituting a regional draft. Fledgling leagues shouldn’t worry about parity; they should worry about attendance” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/15).