The Houston Comets, four-time winners of the Women's National Basketball Association crown, will suspend operations after the league was unable find a buyer for the team.
"We are, unfortunately, at a place we hoped that we wouldn't have to be at - the Comets will cease operations in this coming week," WNBA president Donna Orender told television station KRIV on Monday.
One of the league's original teams founded in 1997, the Comets claimed the WNBA's first four championships from 1997-2000.
"All of our energies were focused on finding a viable ownership group in the city of Houston," Orender said. "As such, going really to the wire with a group that expressed an interest and desire to keep it there, at some point you can't start in another city.
"We're really too late to be able to drive success in another market. We were really focused on driving success in the Houston market."
The women's professional league will hold a dispersal draft before the 2009 season, sending Comets players to other teams.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
