Ryan Tanke, new chief operating officer (COO) of the Rockets, arrives in Houston after years of having held that same title with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Furthermore, he also held that COO role with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. That aspect could particularly be useful to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who remains actively involved in an effort to bring a WNBA team back to Houston.

“I don’t know where the bid stands, but having been on the WNBA Board of Governors and having led the Lynx for many years, it would be a strong one for me to help launch,” Tanke told Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal (SBJ) regarding his hands-on WNBA experience and how it might help Houston’s bid.

Per SBJ’s Friend, there could be as many as four new WNBA cities in the coming years. Three are possible via the expansion process, while a fourth could come from a move by the Connecticut Sun.

Cleveland and Philadelphia are reportedly frontrunners for two of those slots, but Houston is among several other candidates (including Nashville, Detroit, Miami, Charlotte, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Jacksonville) for the remaining possibilities, SBJ reports.

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One perk to Houston’s bid is that a WNBA team could share existing infrastructure with the NBA’s Rockets. That includes the home arena of Toyota Center; a newly constructed practice complex; and Space City Home Network as the television partner for games. That can provide significant advantages relative to markets starting from scratch in one or more of those areas.

Houston also brings considerable WNBA history to the table.

From 1997 through 2008, Houston was home to the now-shuttered Comets. Led by iconic names such as Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson, the Comets won the league’s first four titles in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. But fan interest gradually waned as the team lost relevance in the years that followed, and that eventually led to the franchise being dissolved by the end of the 2000s.

In recent years, however, interest in women’s basketball has picked up throughout the United States — with stars such as Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson helping drive a new wave of fandom. That resurgent fan interest has led to improved economics for the sport and the league, and in turn, that has prompted increased demand for WNBA expansion and new franchises.

There is no set timetable for the next wave of WNBA expansion announcements, with new teams likely to start operations by the end of this decade.