Final Vote: The Shock Moving South

Now, majority owner Bill Cameron has announced plans to move the team to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The team will finish out the 2015 season in their current location, but will begin the 2016 season playing at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Cameron has asked the WNBA to submit the request for relocation to the Board of Governors in an effort to move the club as soon as possible. It contends the ownership percentages aren’t clear, so it’s impossible to tell whether Cameron has a high enough percentage to move the team against the wishes of other group members.

Cindy Dronyk, left, and Mike Dronyk, franchise-long season ticket holders, watch the Tulsa Schock during the fourth quarter of a WNBA basketball game against the Washington Mystic in Tulsa, Okla., Tuesday, July 21, 2015.

“The WNBA is extremely grateful to the city of Tulsa and the team’s loyal fans”, read a statement from the league.

Cameron is still facing a civil suit from minority owner Stuart Price, which could hold up the Shock’s move to Dallas. “From a business perspective, it was necessary to evaluate options to place the team and the organization in the best position to achieve financial success”. Price believes that Cameron “has used and set up Tulsa to incubate his franchise”, which, now that they are finally showing promise under his ownership, he can finally move to a mega market.

The Shock will be the WNBA’s first foray into the Dallas Fort-Worth area. Cameron said in a response letter that Bartlett made him think twice. “As a coach, I have to keep them focused.

“When a player goes down, it takes three or four games to really settle in, and when other things happen outside of basketball, it takes two or three more games or days to settle in”, he said.

The on-court struggles were reflected at the gate. The Sports Business Journal reports that attendance at Shock games has ranked last in the league for each of the last four seasons.

This year’s team was 8-1 before star guard Skylar Diggins was lost for the season with a torn ACL and are just 2-6 since. They had hoped Cameron would give it a chance while the team was winning.

She was the third overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft.

“As an organization, we are working together in support of our staff, players and coaches to complete this season in a strong way for our fans and sponsors in Tulsa”. This is just a sad moment. “As you know, the Shock have experienced consecutive years of operating losses since starting play in Tulsa”, Cameron wrote.