Fever are eliminated from the playoffs - so it's customary to start thinking about what they need to do in FA and the Draft, etc to best prepare for next season. It starts with figuring out where they will play. Then we get into who should be GM? Head Coach, etc. Poll ends Sept. 1
Last Edit: Jun 10, 2023 13:02:47 GMT -5 by toad455
I voted Bay Area. Cathy E. has been dropping hints this year when talking about prospective expansion cities that she wants a team in the Bay Area the most, and with Lacob preferring to buy an existing franchise over being given a new one according to clayk, it indicates to me that the Fever would move to the Bay Area.
Do we know if they even have a prospective ownership group in Philly?
Philadelphia has been the most talked about and has frequently been mentioned by Engelbert this year when the topic of expansion cities comes up. This is a young team, so the majority of this squad should be back in 2023 plus (presumably) Aliyah Boston added in.
As for free agents, Tiffany Mitchell is their only UFA. Emma Cannon and Victoria Vivians are their only RFAs. Guessing Vivians is re-signed and T. Mitchell goes elsewhere.
From that Boardroom article posted on the expansion page, here is a direct quote from Engelbert on what city she’d like to see get a team next:
Are there venues and investors who have attracted you?
CE: Well, there’s a lot that have contacted the league, which is great news because we’ve been out there talking about it. I could rattle off 10 to 15 cities that have been interested in us. When I came into the league — coming from Deloitte, which had offices in 100 cities in the U.S. — that when technology is driving so much of your economy, not to have a team in the Bay Area seemed like a missed opportunity, especially with Stanford’s women’s basketball program having been so successful. So it kind of struck me that would be a market that would be of interest.
There’s many others like Austin, Philly, Denver, Toronto, Nashville, Charlotte, Florida, Houston, Sacramento, Portland. There’s a ton of cities that have shown interest. Now we have to find the right ownership groups to step up with the right kind of capital investment.
Note the past-tense usage, “seemed”, in the bolded part above, as if to say via freudian slip that a Bay Area team is already a done deal, even though we’ve been told that actual expansion isn’t coming until 2024 at the absolute earliest. But even if you were to dismiss that as simply her misspeaking, she clearly wanted to prop up the Bay Area here ahead of any other place.
And to a lesser extent, she seems to imply with naming all the other prospective cities (Philly included, as well as that ‘yikes’ of a Florida gaffe that we’ve already raked her over the coals on here for lol) that there aren’t yet serious ownership groups lined up elsewhere.
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2022 14:55:39 GMT -5 by Deleted
100% about the Bay Area. Is Lacob just being hush about things and the Fever relocation is already in the works? He failed to get the Sparks and then failed to get the (Silver) Stars. Maybe third time is the charm?
Now that the Chase Center has been up & running, and the pandemic continues to be of lessening concern to the general public (and the government imo 🙃), it seems to me like the conditions are all ripe for Lacob to go get his team.
And I really don’t think the League would require the Fever to move to an(other) east-coast location if that’s not where the best ownership group is/wants to be.
I was torn between Philly and SF. Philly also maintains the east-west balance.
If Indiana moved to the Bay Area, Minnesota would then easily move to the Eastern Conference at least until real expansion happens. The East is where they belong from a geographical standpoint anyway tbh.
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2022 15:58:57 GMT -5 by Deleted
I guess the wild card in this is the lottery pick. If the Fever were to draw No. 1 then the owners might want to keep the team. However, it would also enhance the market $ value of the franchise making a sale more attractive.
If there a deal it's probably already done, and we won't have to wait long to find out. If a team is moving the new owners would want to get started early getting things in place and start selling tickets. They probably would wait until the playoffs are over which ends no later than Sept. 20.
Herb Simon is 87 years old. It honestly might all just be as simple as him deciding, “it’s time to sell this team,” especially if none of his younger generation of family members want to inherit it from him.
Herb Simon is 87 years old. It honestly might all just be as simple as him deciding, “it’s time to sell this team,” especially if none of his younger generation of family members want to inherit it from him.
I hadn't realized he was that old. He is reported to be worth over $3 billion, so Fever profits or losses are not a major concern, but he never seemed like a big spender. Other concerns may well be driving things.
I do wonder if the rumors back in 2009 were true that if the Fever didn't make the Finals then, they would have folded or relocated.
Considering those rumors, it’s kind of crazy that he’s held on to the Fever all this time since then – especially 2017 or 2018 or so when the team wasn’t doing jackshit on the court and had zero direction as to how to start being good again. That would’ve been a ripe time to dispose of the team as well from an owner’s perspective, imo.
But anyway, yeah, when you’re both that old and that rich, business decisions could simply be made based off of intangible means such as feelings, hunches, and ~vibes.~ In the words of one of my favorite country artists, Kacey Musgraves: “It is what it is – ‘til it ain’t anymore.”
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2022 15:44:04 GMT -5 by Deleted
I do wonder if the rumors back in 2009 were true that if the Fever didn't make the Finals then, they would have folded or relocated.
Considering those rumors, it’s kind of crazy that he’s held on to the Fever all this time since then – especially 2017 or 2018 or so when the team wasn’t doing jackshit on the court and had zero direction as to how to start being good again. That would’ve been a ripe time to dispose of the team as well from an owner’s perspective, imo.
It was more than a rumor, the owner(s) did say they were only going to commit to one more season around that time. However, 2009 was the year of the Mercury Fever Finals series, which by all accounts was one of the greatest ever and the Fever almost won it. So optimism about the team's prospects on the court and lining up a jersey sponsor carried the day. Once they won the Finals in 2012 they were probably in good shape until Catchings retired. It may have just taken this long for the dust to settle (if it actually has). The pandemic probably made it really hard to sell a team in 2020 -2021. And we may all be dead wrong and the Fever will continue to play in Indiana year -the apparent writing on the wall notwithstanding.......
The other thing I have in mind that hasn’t been fully discussed yet…
The Fever are in the reddest state in the WNBA in Indiana, not to mention the recent controversy involving the 10 year-old Ohio r*pe victim going to Indiana to get an abortion.
So then, I wonder if Cathy E., despite being a Republican herself (or at least what MAGA people might call a RINO), could be encouraging a sale that gets the Fever out of Indiana, purely for business reasons and maybe to avoid… situations, in the future.
It does seem like many of these red states are becoming more red, while simultaneously the League is becoming more blue, if you will.
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2022 15:57:58 GMT -5 by Deleted
The Tulsa and Vegas moves caught me off guard, so Bay Area seems too obvious right now. I'm going with Toronto!
Tulsa to Dallas was known during the Shock's final year in Tulsa. The Detroit Shock was slightly known to be relocating during their playoff stint as something was leaked then. There new city wasn't known until later.