This Season Could Be WNBA Fever's Last Despite On-Court Success
This season "might be the Fever's last" despite the team holding the WNBA's second-best record and coming off the "best regular season" in the franchise's 10-year history, according to David Woods of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Fever co-Owner Herb Simon in March said that the team "had lost 'several million dollars,' and must double sponsorship and attendance to survive." Woods notes attendance "hasn't approached that goal -- it's up 3[%], or 237 fans per game -- and the team hasn't disclosed the value of its three new sponsorships, with Kroger, Old National Bank and Lucas Oil." Pacers Sports & Entertainment President Jim Morris: "There's no reason to comment on the future of the team when we have so much good and positive to focus on." Morris had said that the Fever "want an average of 8,000 to 10,000 fans a game." This season's average was 7,939, sixth out of the 13 WNBA teams. Fever G Tamecka Dixon, who last year played for the now-defunct Comets, said that there were "signs of trouble" with the Comets and that "players met several times during the season with" WNBA President Donna Orender. Dixon said that there "have been no such warning signals in Indianapolis." Morris said that "getting to a break-even point with the Fever is a challenge in a small market ... as it is with the Pacers." Woods notes if the Pacers' attendance and win-loss record "hadn't suffered in recent seasons, the Fever's future probably wouldn't be in question." Morris: "We need to make progress on each piece of it for things to work" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 9/15). See today's Back of the Book section for final WNBA regular season attendance figures.
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