WNBA’s original dynasty rebuilt: Houston Comets face ‘mad sprint’ to 2027 return | Exclusive

WNBA's original dynasty rebuilt: Houston Comets face 'mad sprint' to 2027 return Exclusive.

Key points

• The Comets' legacy includes four consecutive WNBA championships between 1997 and 2000, with star player Cynthia Cooper winning Finals MVP in each of those seasons.
• Houston is building a locker room, practice court, weight room and offices specifically for the Comets as part of the $180 million "Toyota Center Reimagined" renovation.
• Sun president of basketball Jennifer Rizzotti, general manager Morgan Tuck and head coach Rachid Meziane are relocating to Houston to retain their roles.
• Now, Houston is inheriting a rebuilding Sun team that finished each of the last two seasons with an 11-33 record.

WNBA's original dynasty rebuilt: Houston Comets face 'mad sprint' to 2027 return Exclusive. Danielle Lerner USA TODAY. Why Houston Comets GM, president relocated with their WNBA team.

For context, the Houston Comets GM and president discuss the decision to relocate with the team to Houston and what created the city the right destination.

Meanwhile, the WNBA's Connecticut Sun franchise has been sold and relocated to Houston, reviving the original Comets team.

Key leadership from the Sun, including the president, general manager, and head coach, will move to Houston to maintain their roles.

In practice, the Toyota Center is undergoing an $180 million renovation to build new, dedicated facilities for the Comets.

While inheriting the Sun's roster, the new Comets are additionally embracing the legacy of the original team. It won four straight championships.

HOUSTON – Houston Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr, wearing a yellow hard hat adorned with a red Rockets "R" logo, pushed aside a plastic curtain and stepped into the future WNBA locker room of the Houston Comets.

In practice, the WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the Connecticut Sun to a firm led by Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta in May. The relocation of the franchise to Houston to revive the Comets has created a construction zone at the Toyota Center. It is preparing to welcome its WNBA tenant for the 2027 season.

"We are at a mad sprint, " Sheirr informed USA TODAY Sports during a September tour of the facility.

For context, the return of the Houston Comets, the WNBA's original dynasty, falls somewhere between renovation and restoration.

For context, the circumstances of the sale created unique timing and logistics. The Comets had less than a year between the acquisition and the team's first game to obtain operations off the ground. It includes absorbing dozens of team employees who lived in Connecticut.

"The product, the players, that infrastructure, the culture that they built, the young talent – all of that is coming (from Connecticut). But we are building a business from scratch, " Sheirr remarked. "So it's a combination of relocation, expansion and then, when you have this legacy and dynasty, that's part of our messaging and the excitement."

Notably, the move additionally coincides with a crucial expansion period for the WNBA. It intends to expand to 18 teams by 2030, and asks fans to reconcile the return of one beloved franchise with the loss of another.

For context, the relocation to Houston left of Sun fans disappointed and angry after the WNBA refused to approve the Mohegan Tribe's attempts to sell the team to two separate ownership groups that would have kept the team in New England: first to Boston Celtics' minority owner Stephen Pagliuca and then to former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry.

Instead, months after WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert declared in June 2025 that Houston was "up next" to receive an expansion franchise, Fertitta's group reportedly paid a record $300 million fee for the Sun.

In practice, the relocation is "bittersweet, " remarked Tuck. This person has served as Sun general manager since 2021. She and Rizzotti informed USA TODAY Sports they felt a responsibility to players and staff to see the move through.

"The best way for me to have handled that was to keep it completely separate and understand that I could feel a sadness and a disappointment and a nostalgia for what the Connecticut Sun has meant to the state, " Rizzotti remarked. "But also an excitement and a feeling of opportunity to move forward with Morgan and crew to continue to build something special."

Meanwhile, the Comets' legacy includes four consecutive WNBA championships between 1997 and 2000, with star player Cynthia Cooper winning Finals MVP in each of those seasons. Even after the team folded due to financial struggles in 2008, the Comets' banners continued to hang in the Toyota Center rafters.

Now, Houston is inheriting a rebuilding Sun team that finished each of the last two seasons with an 11-33 record. Tuck remarked the goal is to produce the WNBA playoffs in 2027.

"We were able to shape our young core a little bit more and so now we're looking at, how do we bring in a few pieces that can really lead this young core that we have and help us take that next step?" Tuck remarked. "It's just really coincided in a way with Houston and going through a transition at the same time, but I'm really proud that we've stuck to our vision so far." Refreshing one of the WNBA's original teams. Comets 2.0 won't look the same as the original Comets.

WNBA rules legally prohibit reviving an old design as a primary logo, meaning the Comets couldn't simply reproduce the franchise's former branding. But Jose Lopez and Taylor French, Houston's creative director and senior director of marketing operations, wanted to design logos that simultaneously captured the team's history and moved the franchise forward.

In practice, the Comets unveiled their new logos on Thursday, Oct. 29. Out of respect for Connecticut, the Comets delayed their logo reveal until after the Sun's final season concluded. The Comets plan to unveil their uniforms, court design and mascot afterwards in the offseason.

For context, the franchise filed federal trademark applications for its design marks and is moving ahead with the Comets branding even though the WNBA is battling to trademark the Houston Comets name after a firm tied to rapper Travis Scott filed a competing application.

Notably, the Comets have already begun selling season tickets and Sheirr remarked the community response has been robust. The Comets hosted weekly WNBA viewing parties around Houston this season to obtain fans invested in the league. In August, they organized a bus caravan for Comets season ticket depositors to go to Dallas for a Sun vs. Wings game. Regarding 300 fans produced the trip.

Comets fan Markie Gee, a Houston native, recalled attending WNBA games at The Summit when she was a child. Her favorite player was point guard Kim Perrot. This person died from breast cancer before the 1999 season and had her No. 10 jersey posthumously retired by the Comets. Gee remarked she was elated when she identified out the team was returning.

"The camaraderie, I felt like we were all families sitting in the stands, " Gee remarked. "It was just a big party, a good time, and I want that feeling back."

While Sheirr expects some overlap between Rockets and Comets fans, she remarked Houston will treat its WNBA team as a distinct product. Sheirr and her staff spent the 2026 WNBA season scouring other WNBA arenas. They observed fan arrival times and concessions habits, mascot behavior and how fans engaged with timeout or halftime activations.

"There are things that are different in a WNBA feeling than in an NBA feeling, " Sheirr remarked. "We find in the WNBA that it's more than just the competition on the court; it's the community feeling of you being around other like-minded people, supporting these amazing women athletes."

Meanwhile, the WNBA the Comets joined in 1997 was a vastly different league from the one that exists today, both in terms of structure and cultural relevance. In 2026, the first year of the league's new media rights accord, the WNBA set a number of viewership and attendance records in the regular season and WNBA Finals. Player salaries are skyrocketing thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement, and WNBA team valuations are rising, too.

Sheirr worked for the original Comets. She remarked recent expansion teams such as the Golden State Valkyries – which produced the WNBA Finals in the franchise's second year of existence – show how much the league has changed.

"The biggest inspiration that we have taken from other teams is just expectations of how much this league has grown and how much enthusiasm there is from the fan base, " Sheirr remarked. "I've been here 25 years. Trying to compare that to now is not relevant at all. And so, seeing these other teams launch has been just a great reminder to not slip back into what you think might be right." Building a winning culture in Houston.

Rizzotti is a Connecticut native who has worked for the Sun since 2021, but she additionally won two WNBA championships as a player with the Comets in 1999 and 2000.

In Houston, Rizzotti will reunite with two of her Comets teammates, Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes. This person joined the franchise as global ambassadors. The third member of the Comets' Major Three, Tina Thompson, is anticipated to be heavily involved in some capacity.

"What I remember about Houston is just the excitement of stepping onto that floor, the expectation that we were going to be competing for championships every single year and playing alongside some of the best players to ever play the game, " Rizzotti remarked. "Morgan and I, coming from a background of UConn, we additionally have a highly high commitment to winning. So I think we're excited to be coming back to that culture."

While Rizzotti and Tuck hope to replicate the success the Comets had on the court, they're determined to prioritize continuity from the foundation they built in Connecticut.

Meziane is on board for his third season as head coach, Tuck informed USA TODAY Sports. Although other basketball operations staffing decisions are not yet finalized, Tuck remarked the Comets' staff will look "very similar" to last season.

This offseason is pivotal for the Comets. This person are tied with the Toronto Tempo for the best odds to receive the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft. USC guard JuJu Watkins and Texas forward Madison Booker headline the draft class and are projected to be the top two picks.

"It's hard to kind of pass up on those two just because of how much of an impact that they have on their current teams and their style of play, " remarked Tuck, who was drafted by the Sun third overall in 2016. "I think we all see that it could potentially translate really well to the pro game."

In short, wNBAs original dynasty rebuilt: Houston Comets face mad sprint to 2027 return is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.