This week, as the NWSL broke another mark for expansion franchise prices in the league with the announcement of NWSL Denver, the bids for the next WNBA franchise were submitted, with the adjacent story lines tied to them. And while the realists and the cynical will push away the pageantry and the buzz and look at what will drive…what usually drives…the awarding of a franchise; biggest dollars and existing insider relationships…the choice of the NAME of the Nashville WNBA bid was a double entendre stroke of fun genius.
The Summitt.
The bid, which is led by former Governor Haslem, a cadre of Nashville music names and some key athletes like Candace Parker (good reads here and here), has many whispering longshot, as the other three alleged bids are by teams in NBA cities with owners who are always in the room with Adam Silver, and may all may be the easier, and the deeper dollars choice for the W this time around, but pushing forth a name with a wow factor and historical ties may get Nashville…or Tennessee…an even bigger look than some may expect.
Now for anyone on the memorable birthday or music or bachelorette circuit, the growth of Nashville as a destination is not far back in memory. Sports fans outside of the NHL and the NFL have also started to notice Nashville through the court storming fans of Vanderbilt football and basketball this fall, and women’s basketball both at Vandy and of course at Tennessee has always been a rallying point for the state. Memphis has the Grizzlies, and all things SEC seem to find their way to the city as well. However, as the interviews clearly state, Nashville is steadily on the rise in the business community as well.
Then there is the name choice.
Whereas most “bids” wait to pick a name…do the costly surveys, trademark a dozen, test and prod and poke for a process that some teams…Utah Hockey Club, PWHL in their first season, the former Washington Football Club now Commanders…wait to hold even BEYOND launch to build a cadence and see how things go…the Nashville WNBA leaned in with the best choice maybe ever for a team that might never exist.
The Summitt…in addition to the meaning of being at the top of all things that we should aspire to…has such an amazing resonance to the builder of the sport, the late Tennessee coach Pat Summitt…that it has to resonate and get a second look EVEN if the dollars for massive investment don’t match up. The bid also resides in a state and a city that would NOT be immediately tied to pro hoops like the other three announced bids. Like the growth of the Predators, and in a season where there is not yet a competing professional team (which could change if Nashville gets an MLB expansion franchise), the Summitt choice could send a message of standalone first mover significance that sports played by women still needs to build. Namely (no pun intended) that we as a business can do just fine without big brother NBA holding court (pun intended).
A first mover stroke that could again signal a shining light that sports played by women are amping up the professional business mojo, in an area where that resonance (outside of Atlanta) is still growing steadily. A team that can serve a region, not just a city, and by its name, immediately connects the past to the present to the future.
What a wonderful idea.
Now as we said at the beginning, wonderful ideas without the biggest dollars sometimes die on the vine. We will see if substance matches buzz. However, you have to give credit to the group for finding a name bigger than a mascot or a symbol of a region. It is one that is symbolic of sport, and that’s a good thing.
Let’s see where the business games go, but Nashville scored some fun points with their name, as much as with the names involved in the dollars.
What’s in a name? Maybe more than some realize.
