This story originally appeared on KERA News.
President of the new North Texas WNBA team, David Swatzell, introduced the Dallas Wings at the University of Texas at Arlington on Monday.
“It is absolutely an honor and a privilege to introduce you to the newest professional sports franchise in the Dallas-Fort Worth market,” he said.
The Wings will be the first women’s professional basketball team in North Texas since the Dallas Diamonds played from 1979-1981.
The Wings mascot is a Pegasus, which pays homage to Dallas’ iconic red Pegasus on top of the Magnolia Hotel downtown.
The team will call UT-Arlington’s College Park Center home. Swatzell said there’s a good reason why they’re keeping Dallas in the team name.
“You can go anywhere in the world and when you say Dallas, people know where Dallas is,” Swatzell said. “We want to drive the success of the team and we believe that leaning into that already established, very successful brand is important for us.”
The team used to be called the Tulsa Shock. They’re moving to North Texas, partly because it’s a bigger market.
The Wings want to attract families and kids, especially young girls, to the games. Star player Skyler Diggins said it’s about giving back to the community.
“It’s not only about tapping into kids who are passionate about basketball,” Diggins said. “It’s about showing if you work hard and you put time into your personal brand and developing yourself, you can be anything you want to be.”
