San Antonio Silver Stars owner Spurs Sports & Entertainment said that the team “has finally climbed out of the red -- one of only three WNBA franchises to finish the year with a moneymaking season,” according to W. Scott Bailey of the SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL. SS&E President of Business Operations Rick Pych said, “The success of the Silver Stars has everything to do with the product, which continues to get better and better. It’s through the product that we will see more growth in women’s basketball.” Pych said that SS&E officials "decided a few years ago to create some separation between the Spurs and Silver Stars." Pych: “It was hard to distinguish how much of the success of the Silver Stars was that team or the result of that leveraging of the Spurs. So we changed our approach to position the Silver Stars as an independent franchise. That was a big transition for us.” Silver Stars Dir of Business Operations Russell Warren added, “Now we operate as a stand-alone within a parent organization. It’s taken us a while to get there.” The franchise “sold the equivalent of nearly 2,100 season tickets this year, a 26 percent increase.” In addition, group sales “were up 22 percent.” The Connecticut Sun were also profitable this past season, and Sun VP & GM Chris Sienko said, “It can be done, it has been done and it will continue to be done if teams share best practices.” Lynx COO Conrad Smith, whose franchise also saw a profit last season, expects the list of profitable franchises to “grow in the coming seasons.” Warren said of WNBA President Laurel Richie, “She’s a great leader. She has the passion and the vision and that’s important. She will help grow the sport” (SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/9 issue).
