WNBA Comets cease operations

Dec 2, 2008 - 4:31 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets have suspended operations.

The league-owned team is being shut down because new owners couldn't be found, WNBA president Donna Orender announced Tuesday.

"Multiple investors have come forward and expressed significant interest in purchasing the Comets and having them continue to play in Houston in 2009," Orender said. "However, we made the judgment that we would not be able to complete a transaction with the right ownership group in time for the 2009 season."

One of the league's original teams founded in 1997, the Comets claimed the WNBA's first four championships from 1997-2000.

The 13-team league will hold a dispersal draft involving Comets players Monday. Current players, with the exception of unrestricted free agents Latasha Byears, Mwadi Mabika, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, Michelle Snow and Tina Thompson, are eligible to be selected.

Atlanta will have the first selection followed by Washington, Chicago, Minnesota, Phoenix, Indiana, Sacramento, New York, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Detroit, Seattle and San Antonio.