The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Gretchen Sheirr Discusses Comets Return to Houston

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Gretchen Sheirr Discusses Houston Comets Return to Houston

You guys have been working on this, obviously, behind the scenes for quite some time. When the final announcement came through and everything was agreed upon, what was it like for the family, for yourself now with a new project here, bringing the comments back after a long absence. Yeah, it is, it is so excited. Tillman is very excited, obviously, is far away, but has been so engaged and passionate about this process. And Patrick and Page and the entire family.

And our organization and the fans and the community are just, over the moon. So we're very excited to get this across the finish line, get kind of the official approval, and go from there. But yesterday's announcement was a big first step for us. It is amazing to me. New television deals, and look, you know this from the NBA world. Television deals make the world go around, having stars, having the ability to use social media. The NBA is a different animal than it was, say, 20 years ago when this team in this city where had won. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the growth has.

been exponential and it's been steadily growing for years and then over over the last couple of years it was a tipping point where it just you know kind of exploded exponentially but like anything I mean the WMBA has always had very strong passionate fans it's a phenomenal brand of basketball but if it's not accessible to the general public it's really hard to grow new fans so just the media and the television exposure that you've seen grow over the last five to seven years has been gigantic and you've seen it in the growth and the popularity of the sport. Gradon, she're president

of the Rockets and now comments joining us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You know, Cynthia and Tina and Cheryl, I mean, how much will you try to integrate the past to the future of the Houston comments? Yeah, I mean,

that's super important, right? The legacy is important. I think that I am, well, I talk to, you know, I was able to call Tina and Cynthia, and Cheryl, and obviously they've been supportive through this whole process and Van Chancellor, and I was able to talk to them Friday afternoon after, you know, that the news started to leak. And I'm just personally, I'm so excited for them. I mean, they were, they built, you know, they were the foundation that helped build what is the WMBA, you know, today, 30 years later.

And when it's not live in your market, you know, they're not always front and center. So the fact that the legacy and how talented and just legendary those players and coaches were, that that's brought back to the forefront of this game. I'm so excited for them. So right now we definitely are going to be celebrating them in the history that they built and the return of that legacy and the dynasty. And as we get to completion and the season starts, we'll certainly be celebrating the game where it is today

and educating fans, new fans on just the growth of the WMBA and what they have to look forward to in 2027 when this team comes to Houston. You brought up the history, so it kind of made me wonder. Is this going to be like a Cleveland Brown situation? What's going to happen with like team records and all that stuff as it relates to the sun in the comments? You're asking questions that I cannot answer. Okay. That was Ross.

I'm sorry. Yeah, well, you can blame me again. Yeah, that's all part. I'm O for two. All part of stuff that we will, that we, that we're working with the WNBA on as we, as we finalize and complete this process. Gretchen, share with us here on Sports Talk 790. And just overall, your thoughts, question of what you've seen as a woman, of course,

in a male-dominated space in men's sports, the growth of women's sports and what we're seeing with the NBA and, I mean, a volleyball and really all over the country in women's sports in general. Yeah, game is game, right? So I think with the increased exposure, you know, the world is recognizing how talented these women are and what they bring to the court or to the field

every single day. They're getting the respect and the pay that they have earned and built. And, you know, a lot of that is due to not only the media, you know, obviously the media exposure, but the media exposure wouldn't be there if the fans weren't there. And so I'm just proud of the world. I am proud of sports fans for supporting women's sports and helping grow the game. And we knew, you know, as we started looking through this process about and about bringing the WMBA back, and bringing the comments back, you could just feel the excitement from, you know, fans of the team from the past and fans from the WMBA today, the business community, eager to support women's sports fans.

Like, you could feel it bubbling up under the surface. And yesterday, when we were able to make the official announcement and launch our deposit campaign, we had some pretty high expectations. And they exceeded, yesterday exceeded all of our expectations. And you know us. We're pretty aggressive and pretty competitive. So we feel really good about where this team is going to be when it launches in 2027 and we're going to need everybody listening to make sure they put their deposit down

and come out to support this team as we relaunch this franchise. And I'm assuming calling the office. Is there a website? What's going on socially in terms of finding? Yeah, Houstoncom. So Houstoncomments.com is kind of the central hub of where we can have everything that we're able to have as we as we complete this process. But the deposit is there.

There's some retail that's there celebrating the WMBA's return to Houston. That's where you can find kind of upcoming stuff on where to follow us on social media. There's Facebook page. There's an Instagram page. There's an X page already ready to go from the comments. Obviously, having the partner brand right in the Houston Rockets, you know, we're able to amplify that message while we build. the Comet's independent fan base.

And the schedule is going to expand, right? There'll be more games in the future years, correct? There will be more games. You know, the terms, the agreed upon has been done by the CBA. The league is papering that right now. And they'll be expanding by a handful of games over the next several years. Exactly how that plays out. Each year, I think they're finalizing in those terms.

but they'll play, it looks like they'll get up to 50 in the next few years, which will be 25 home games, give or take. Gretchen, there's a lot of new expansion teams. Last year, Golden State, Toronto's going to have a new team. Portland, have you been able to bug them about what to do, what not to do, in terms of trying to build a new franchise in a new city, especially in some of those cases that are bringing back basketball? Yeah, and then Cleveland is 28, and then Detroit and Philly will be

added as well. Yeah, I mean, that's the great thing about having the infrastructure of the MBA and your colleagues is that we can learn people's best practices. We can learn from people's mistake. I mean, we're in a bit of a different situation. We have a year to do this, whereas many of them have several years to do it. So we are doing it, put on the gas, no break to get ready for next year. So we certainly will take some lessons learned and some best practices, but we're going to have to do a lot of this on our own as well, given the timeline. All right, again, reminding folks, it's the Comets, Houstoncomets.com. You can also call the office and all the Instagram and Twitter for information about those

tickets, correct? Yes, sir. All right, we'll leave it at that. Congratulations. I know you guys have been working on this for a very long period of time and look forward to seeing, by the way, do you, maybe I don't have any answers. Do you own the logo and all that good stuff or what's going on with like the old school stuff?

Do you want to create a new logo? What's the works on that? Yeah, we're working. Yeah, we're working. through all of that process right now. I think it's really important to honor the legacy of the brand and the name that elicits so many amazing memories for fans while also making sure that we're stepping into the future and we're creating, you know, a look and feel that matches the next decades as well.

Awesome. Gratian, thanks for time and we'll see you tonight at the building.