This is something we wanted to be able to do for Storm fans and the community.
Great news today! The Seattle Storm, Seattle's professional women's basketball team, has been purchased by some Seattle locals. Last year an ownership group from Oklahoma City purchased both the Sonics and the Storm and was trying to move the teams out of Seattle to Oklahoma City. It's been looking like the there's no chance the Sonics will stay, and I had figured that this next Storm season would be the last. This sale means they should stay in Seattle for years to come.
The team was purchased by four local women, one of which is Lisa Brummel, the senior vice president in charge of Microsoft HR. Since she's technically a coworker of mine, I wrote her the following email this afternoon:
I’ve been a Storm season ticket holder for several years and was dismayed about the possibility of them leaving Seattle. I was thrilled to read today that a local group purchased them – which includes one of my Microsoft coworkers. I believe in the importance of sport as a social and learning activity for both boys and girls, as well as men and women. It’s critical that we can offer women playing at the highest level as role models and a goal for young women – otherwise I feel we’re just paying lip service to gender equality.
In addition to the social importance of women’s professional sports, the games are a much better environment than their male counterparts. Not only are they much more affordable, but there’s a good natured vibe at Storm games that I really enjoy. Basketball isn’t my favorite sport, but I have far more fun at Storm games than I do at other sporting events. I don’t have kids yet, but this sale gives me hope that when I do I’ll be able to take them to Storm games throughout their childhood.
Thanks again, and I promise to do my part to help out. I’ll remain a season ticket holder for years to come, and I’ll even offer to get my hands dirty if you need some volunteer work getting the organization up and running.
You’ve done a great thing for our community. Though you’ve done such great things for our company, I’m hardly surprised.
While it's a bummer that the Sonics look to be headed out of town, I care much more about the Storm staying, and I've very happy with this result. There's some fun timing here too: tomorrow is my scheduled appointment to go down to Key Arena and pick out my seats for the 2008 season. It should be a fun day to interact with the Storm organization!
Labels: Personal
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