HOUSTON | Sports Teams/Events/Venues Thread

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...maid-park.html

Houston selected as host city for 2026 World Baseball Classic


By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
May 23, 2024

Houston's Minute Maid Park has been selected as one of the venues to host the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

It's the first time Minute Maid Park will host games for the international baseball tournament, which is in its sixth installment. Houston will host games for Pool B of the group stage of the tournament, as well as matches for the quarterfinals. The World Baseball Classic is expected to have an economic impact of between $50 million and $60 million and bring more than 350,000 visitors to the city, according to the Harris County Houston Sports Authority.

“We are excited and honored to be hosting World Baseball Classic matchups for the first time,” Astros owner and chairman Jim Crane said in the announcement. “Houston is a global city with the best baseball fans, and we are proud to welcome fans from across the globe to watch international competition at Minute Maid Park."

The HCHSA and Houston First Corp. have been partners throughout the selection process, HCHSA said. HCHSA first told the Houston Business Journal it was bidding to host the tournament in January.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...on-comets.html

Houston group seeks majority owner to lure WNBA expansion franchise

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 11, 2024

A Houston group is seeking to bring a WNBA franchise back to the market and resurrect the city’s most successful professional sports team, the Houston Comets.

Space City Basketball Club has a plan in place to bring a WNBA franchise back to Houston, but it's missing one key piece: a majority owner. The organization, run by longtime building designer Sean Bolden and Crossover Athletics owner Tee Barefield, has “handshake agreements” with potential minority owners, private equity clients and developers to provide what the WNBA is looking for in terms of capital and infrastructure once that majority owner steps in.

“We’re at a point where we have all the infrastructure put together,” Bolden told the Houston Business Journal. “The only thing we don’t have is that majority owner.”

Houston was home to the Comets, one of the original WNBA franchises, from 1997 to 2008. The team won the first four WNBA Championships — the most titles of any professional sports team in Houston to this day. The team was dissolved in December 2008 after the league’s search for a new ownership group came up empty.

The efforts to bring a WNBA team back to Houston come as the league is fully in expansion mode. The league’s 13th franchise — the Golden State Valkyries — will begin play in 2025, and the WNBA in May awarded Toronto the 14th team, which will play its first season in 2026. That appears to be just the beginning for the league.

“Our plan and goal is to get to 16 teams in the next few years,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said at a press conference before the WNBA Draft in April.

Engelbert said she is confident that the league would be at 16 teams by 2028. With Toronto taking the 14th slot, that leaves two more openings for cities vying for a professional women’s basketball team — and the competition appears to be fierce. During the press conference, Engelbert said the league is taking calls from and engaging with places like Philadelphia, Portland, Denver, Nashville and South Florida.

Houston was notably absent from the list of cities Engelbert said the WNBA is engaging with. When asked if the league was interested in coming back to Houston and if it has received formal interest from any local groups, a WNBA spokesperson directed the HBJ back to Engelbert's previous comments.

While it's unclear where Houston stands regarding WNBA expansion, Space City Basketball Club believes the city needs to be included in the next round of expansion.

“The 15th team or the 16th team has to be us. We have to get in within this expansion period,” Bolden said. “We have the economy, we have the resources, we have the people, we have the corporations.”