WNBA Shock Majority Owner Bill Cameron yesterday "solidified more than a week's worth of rumors," announcing in a press release his plans to "relocate the team to the Dallas-Fort Worth area," according to a front-page piece by Hollingsworth & Wade of the TULSA WORLD. Shock investor Stuart Price "fired back" last night, "holding a press conference to announce that he had filed a lawsuit against Cameron." Price accused Cameron of "using Tulsa to 'incubate' the franchise before moving it to Dallas, saying the city had been 'wronged in a lot of respects.'" The team's move is "contingent upon approval" by the league’s BOG. Cameron "asked that the WNBA submit the request to the board as soon as possible." He "cited the larger fan base and increased corporate sponsorship pool in a top-five media market as reasons for the move." Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr. said that he "plans to talk with WNBA officials in an attempt to block" the move. He added that he was "never given a meeting he requested with Shock owners." The Shock's average attendance has "improved every season" in Tulsa, climbing from 4,812 in '10 to 5,566 in '14 (TULSA WORLD, 7/21). In Dallas, Eddie Sefko notes where the team will play in its new home market has yet "to be determined," but "one possibility is College Park Center on the campus of UT-Arlington, although there remains a chance American Airlines Center could house the team." Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban has "long said he would like to see a WNBA team in the market, but did not want to be involved in ownership." He has told the NBA that he "would do whatever he can to help the team if it wants to play at AAC" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/21).
ELECTRIC FEEL: In Tulsa, John Klein writes in losing the Shock, the city will "join Houston, Miami, Cleveland, Charlotte, Portland and Sacramento (franchises that folded) and Detroit, Orlando and Salt Lake City (franchises that relocated)." The WNBA "needs stability, not ownership that wants to move to the first small college gym that will take them." Despite what Shock ownership believes, it will "be a miracle if more than a few dozen folks show up for the second half of the current lame duck season." The franchise "just never gave Tulsa a chance." The Shock "made an effort through social media and got some attention because Tulsa was just small enough to care." Klein: "Dallas and Fort Worth won’t care. Just like Detroit. Or, Houston. Or, several dozen other major league sports markets." It is "pretty difficult to grow a fan base when you are losing," and this "falls on Shock ownership, unwilling to make a serious investment or to demand some sort of concession from the WNBA to give Tulsa a chance those first few seasons" (TULSA WORLD, 7/21).
