Is Travis Scott Holding Up The WNBA’s Houston Comets Comeback?

Rapper Travis Scott is one of Houston’s favorite sons. The Houston Comets are the WNBA’s first dynasty, winning four championships in a row from the league’s inception.

Yet the two entities are now on a collision course as reports say that one of Scott’s companies owns the trademark to the team’s name, which is returning to the city for the 2027 season.

After the Comets fell apart in 2008, the WNBA let the trademark lapse in 2021. But when the Mohegan Tribe, which owns the Connecticut Sun, decided to divest itself of the team, the Houston Rockets made a successful bid to return the team to its original city.

A website was launched, but someone evidently neglected to check the paperwork, only to find out that the WNBA hadn’t refiled to keep the Houston Comets trademark in-house.

Per a report in the Houston Chronicle, Scott’s company, TSTM Holdings LLC, is battling WNBA Enterprises over the team name. The Chronicle confirmed that although Scott himself is not listed in the company paperwork, his longtime representative, Kia Kamran, is. Kamran represents Scott’s LaFlame Enterprises, Inc.

TSTM was granted the trademark in 2024. But WNBAE is asserting that both entities can profit from the name, in what’s known as “common-law” rights, and that in any case, TSTM has no intention of using the name. Naturally, TSTM disagrees and has challenged the WNBA’s legal fight to retain the trademark. They say they are planning to monetize the trademark for entertainment services along with clothing and other items.

In its legal challenge, WNBAE says that TSTM’s claim on the trademark lacks validity.

“Notably, TSTM has provided no information to support that it has a legitimate claim to the name of a beloved sports team and the goodwill that WNBAE built and has maintained for a period of nearly thirty years. The fact that TSTM has chosen to pursue a mark identical to WNBAE’s Comets Word Mark for identical and overlapping goods and services, along with its refusal to identify any bona fide intentions, absence of any evidence of use in the marketplace or even of its plans to use the mark. … raise[s] a plausible inference that TSTM lacks bona fide intent.”

Scott has made no public comment on the trademark battle. While he hasn’t claimed any WNBA affiliations, in 2024, he attended a women’s college basketball game the night Caitlin Clark set the all-time scoring record, taking pictures with her and her teammates afterward.

Recently, Scott’s been connected to F1, performing at and attending races, and throwing his support behind Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen.

The Houston Comets were one of the eight original teams in the WNBA, along with the Detroit Shock, the Charlotte Sting, the Cleveland Rockers, the New York Liberty, the Phoenix Mercury, the Los Angeles Sparks, the Sacramento Monarchs and the Utah Starzz.

The Liberty, Sparks and Mercury are the only three teams from that group that have lasted the entire thirty seasons in the league. But this year, it was announced that the Detroit and Cleveland franchises would return in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

See social medias reaction to Scott’s involvement below.