When Donna Orender accepted her position as president of the Women's National Basketball Association in 2005, she says people often asked, "How can [the league] not be in Tennessee?" At that point, she says her focus was on working with existing teams and stabilizing the league's base. But now, about to wrap up a "great year"--which included an increase in attendance, revenue, ratings and Web traffic, as well as the successful debut of the league's 14th team, the Atlanta Dream--she's focused on where to go next.

"We really think that Nashville is a great destination for the WNBA," Orender says.

In fact, Orender says the league has had preliminary discussions with key business people about getting a team to the Music City.

"We've gotten a very strong degree of interest, and I think now our next steps would be to put together the right business partner--we think we've identified a couple of those, or they have self-identified," Orender says.

But Orender isn't naming names, and if pertinent members of the Nashville business community have heard anything, they remain, for the most part, tight-lipped. Scott Ramsey, president and CEO of the Nashville Sports Council, says he is not aware of the formation of an ownership group or any formal discussions with the WNBA, but given the fact that the Sommet Center would represent the home of a prospective WNBA team, he says the Predators ownership would serve as a likely first touch in such talks.

"It usually starts with the facility and existing tenant ownership in cities looking for expansion," he says. "Hugh Lombardi, David Freeman or the Metro Sports Authority may have had some discussions, but if they have, I haven't been pulled into those discussions as of yet."

Emmett Edwards, executive director of the Metro Sports Authority, directed BusinessTN to Lombardi, general manager of the Sommet Center, for "information relative to the Sommet Center and a potential team coming to Nashville." Lombardi says he hasn't been approached about the use of the facility, but he thinks at this point, preliminary talks would involve investors. He is, however, obviously open to renting out the building. And because there isn't much overlap between National Hockey League and WNBA seasons, a WNBA team would be an option.

"We want to do as many events in our facility as possible, and it works out scheduling-wise," he says.

Freeman, majority owner of the Predators and the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, who, based on his recent interest in owning franchises, would be a likely candidate for ownership, e-mailed the following comment.

"I think the WNBA is important. As a dad of the most wonderful little girl on the planet, I think that providing girls with the opportunity to compete on the same stage and at the same levels as boys, in all aspects of life, is important. I wish Donna the very best and think it's great that the outside world continues to notice Nashville as a vibrant business and lifestyle opportunity."

Business community comments (or lack thereof) aside, in addition to securing an ownership group and a facility, Orender says identifying corporate sponsors is also an integral part of the process and is one of the league's "next steps." Traditionally, that has been a challenge in a city the size of Nashville, and Ramsey says, "everybody is going to have to look at that issue first."

"As we've seen with the Predators, teams can't survive without a corporate base," he says. "We have corporate participation in all of our sporting activities, but we don't have as much of a corporate headquarter base as many of the other cities have to look at when considering a new league or franchise."

In fact, this isn't the first time the possibility of bringing a WNBA team to Nashville has surfaced. In 2003, before Orender came on board, a group of business people led by Jack Tyrrell, managing partner of Richland Ventures, had preliminary discussions with NBA commissioner David Stern. Though it's uncertain as to why a team never came to be (at press time, Tyrrell hadn't responded to a phone call seeking comment), garnering the necessary corporate sponsorships was reportedly a concern among local business leaders.

Still, when it comes to every other criterion that the league considers when determining a good target market for a team, Nashville, and Tennessee in general, undoubtedly fits the bill.

"Tennessee is so logical," Orender says. "What Coach Pat Summitt has done there, and [Melanie Balcomb] at Vanderbilt. If you look at Tennessee--Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville--are all in the top 10 ratings with significant growth year after year on ESPN2 and ABC."

Ramsey agrees that Tennessee's collegiate success makes it an obvious market for expansion discussions, and he's pleased that Nashville is under consideration.

"That's a positive, especially as we pursue a women's Final Four bid over the next few months," he says. "Tennessee is considered a hotbed for women's basketball, and we've had positive results from all the events here."

The league eventually hopes to expand to 20 teams, and though Orender couldn't provide a timeline for a possible Nashville team debut, she says she's sure "the positive buzz will help feed the momentum."