WNBA's New York Liberty Will Soon Call Westchester County Home
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – The New York Liberty women's basketball team is heading for a new home.
The WNBA team is leaving the city and will now play in Westchester County.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the move has some young hoopsters fired up.
The New Rochelle Junior Huegonats playing at Albert Leonard Middle School have their own hoop dreams.
"Basketball is my favorite sport and I want to keep playing as I get older, so I want to continue to the WNBA," one girl told Brennan.
"I would love to be where they are right now," another added.
Now while they dream about playing in the WNBA, the Liberty will come to them. The team couldn't sell out Madison Square Garden, so it's heading to the Westchester County Center.
"I definitely want to go, because that could some day be me in that same place, same league," said Rylie Rosenberg.
The 2,000-seat center is used to hosting high school sports competition. Kids there refer to getting into the major playoffs as "making county center."
But now, it's the big time with professional women's basketball. The Liberty will be there for the 2018 season.
"We hope it's the beginning of, as they say in 'Casablanca,' a beautiful friendship," County Executive George Latimer said. "The more active this facility is, the more usage we get out of it, the better it is for the taxpayers of Westchester County."
The Liberty will still play two games at the Garden, but there will be a total of 15 home games at the Westchester County Center – the first of which is on May 25.
Latimer said he thinks major corporations in the county will help drive ticket pre-sales.