Rockets president drops confident take on Comets name litigation

The Houston Comets, one of the original franchises during the WNBA’s 1997 inaugural season, will be making a return following a rebranding after the Connecticut Sun’s planned move to Houston for the 2027 season. Or will they? The move is still planned, but the organization ran into potential legal issues surrounding the Comets name.

The sale of the Sun to Houston Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta, and pending move to Houston was approved this week by the NBA and WNBA’s Board of Governors. But as the dispute over the Comets name is ongoing, Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr was confident the name change would go through, as per Alexa Philippou of ESPN.

“We feel very good that we’re using Comets,” Sheirr said. “I won’t go into much detail – that process is run by the WNBA – – but we feel very confident.”

The original issue arose when it was revealed that a company owned by a rapper had filed for a Houston Comets trademark.

The Comets played in the WNBA for 12 seasons, winning the league’s first four championships, before the team’s owners failed to sell and the league took over and ultimately disbanded the franchise. In late March, it was announced that current ownership of the Sun had reached an agreement to sell the team to Rockets ownership who planned to move the team to Houston and bring the defunct organization back.

In addition to the ongoing name dispute, Sheirr also revealed that upon the move, the team will initially hold practices at the Rockets’ arena, the Toyota Center. The arena is currently undergoing a renovation following the Rockets’ playoff elimination by the Los Angeles Lakers.