The Connecticut Sun are officially becoming the Houston Comets. Now what?

HOUSTON — When Houston Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr first joined the organization as a ticket sales representative in the summer of 2001, her first task was to sell tickets for the Houston Comets’ “Drive for Five,” as the team began its quest for a fifth consecutive WNBA championship. The Comets, who won the WNBA’s first four titles with legendary players Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson, never won a fifth before the franchise folded in 2008. On Wednesday, May 13, the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Connecticut Sun to a company led by Rockets owner Tilman J.

Fertitta, who will relocate the franchise to Houston for the 2027 season. The team name will change to the Comets. On Thursday at Toyota Center in downtown Houston, Sheirr sat onstage alongside Rockets vice chairman Patrick Fertitta, Tilman’s son, and officially announced the Comets’ return.

“To be able to sit on this stage and represent the Fertitta family and play a small part in bringing this franchise back, is fantastic,” Sheirr said. “And I look forward to the next ‘Drive for Five,’ hopefully coming up soon. ” Fertitta’s group reportedly bought the Sun for $300 million, a record figure for a WNBA team.

The Mohegan Tribe first began exploring a sale of the Sun in early 2025 and came close to selling the team on two separate occasions — first to Boston Celtics’ minority owner Stephen Pagliuca and then to former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry. But the WNBA refused to approve either sale. Houston submitted a bid for a WNBA expansion team during the last round but was not chosen.