Atlanta Dream History
On October 17th of 2007, the WNBA announced that the city of Atlanta,
Georgia would receive an expansion WNBA franchise. In an effort led by
Atlanta City Council president Lisa Borders, the team would become
simply known, at first, as "WNBA Atlanta". To help start the team,
members of the NBA League Office from New York came to Atlanta to get
operations started and hire Atlanta-based staff. The staff worked from
a room at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel and was located there until
December of 2007. During this time, "WNBA Atlanta" had no marketing
staff, no coaching staff, no players - only a room full of Account
Executives selling tickets. With few resources other than a room full
of phones and computers, "WNBA Atlanta" sold more than 1200 season
tickets.
Soon after, the quickly-expanding front office staff would relocate to
their own offices only a few short blocks away on Walton Street, only
minutes from Philips Arena. Soon after, Marynell Meadors was named Head
Coach and GM and a coaching staff quickly expanded.
Soon after, "WNBA Atlanta" held a "name the team" contest, where
fans could vote on their favorite team name. The team names were
between Flight, Sizzle, Surge and Dream. Dream was easily the fan
favorite and "WNBA Atlanta" became known as the Atlanta Dream!
The team name announcement and press conference was held at the East
Lake YMCA, where team owner Ron Terwilliger, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Trammell Crow Residential, and Atlanta City Could
president Lisa Borders were on hand to let the world know know our new
team name. It was an amazing celebration and the Atlanta Dream was now
truly born!
Shortly after the team name announcement, marketing, promotions,
basketball and game operations as well as other staff were added,
making the Dream come true.
On February 6th, 2008, Atlanta held an Expansion Draft, adding star
players such as Ivory Latta and Betty Lenox. Now, with a roster of
amazing talent, one the WNBA's best coaching staff, a great ticket
sales, marketing, promotions and gameday staff, the Dream has truly
come alive in HOTLanta! Or should we say ATLatta? The Atlanta Dream
will host Los Angeles Sparks for the first and only home pre-season
matchup on Saturday, May 3rd at Philips Arena, will open the season on
the road vs. the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, May 17th and will then
play their inaugural Philips Arena home game on Friday, May 23rd vs.
the Deroit Shock! LA comes back to Atlanta on May 25th.
"From Super Bowls to Final Fours to the Centennial Olympic Games,
Atlanta has always found a way to make our sporting dreams come true.
Our city needs your support again! After several months of
consideration and planning, an organizing committee has been formed to
bring a WNBA team to Atlanta. By adding a WNBA franchise, Atlanta's
professional sports community will become more diversified and
complete, solidifying our city's status as the nation's sports
capital." - Atlanta City Council President, Lisa Borders |
