A GRIP ON SPORTS • Well, that was quick. Two seasons. That’s all the latest professional sports franchise lasted in Spokane. The Spokane Zephyr are no more.
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• It seemed like a good idea. One with legs. In the soccer world, that matters. When the United Soccer League Super League debuted in the 2024-25 season, the new women’s pro league included a franchise in Spokane. It seemed like a good pairing, though the cities that hosted the other franchises featured, for the most part, larger fanbases to draw from.
Spokane competed with teams from Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and other large metro areas, all east of the Rockies. The closest team in the league? Dallas.
Did traipsing across the country for every D1 Gainbridge Super League away match cost too much? Was that why the franchise, owned by Aequus Sports, the group which also operates the Spokane Velocity FC, failed to make it to year three?
No one knows, because the message posted on the Zephyr’s website didn’t explain the why. The what? Sure. And the when, which is now. But the why?
Dave Nichols delved into that a bit in his S-R story this morning, which included some new financial and attendance items.
The latter dropped about 1,000 fans between the franchise’s first season in ONE Spokane Stadium and its second. That had to hurt the bottom line.
Heck, even after attracting around 2,500 to home matches the inaugural season, Zephyr management was late on a balloon payment associated with their 10-year contract with the Spokane Public Facilities District, ONE Spokane Stadium’s owner. The payment arrived but, according to Dave’s story, another one is due after next season.
Now there won’t be a next season. At least in the current form or league.
Wednesday’s announcement included the statement the Zephyr’s demise “is not the end of women’s soccer in Spokane. We remain committed to the game and to this community, and we will continue exploring ways to ensure women’s soccer remains an active and visible part of the Inland Northwest.”
• It’s been a while since two local college baseball teams competed in conference tournaments the same weekend – if it has ever happened. Sure, Washington State and Gonzaga competed in the NCAA tourney the same year (in 2009 and a couple times in the 1980s), but the conference tournament weekend crossover was pretty much submarined by the Pac-10’s lack of a tournament after the north and south began playing in one conference in 1999.
It happens this week.
Washington State is in Mesa, Ariz., for its first, and last, Mountain West Conference tournament. The Cougars are seeded second – San Diego State won the regular season title – and begin play Friday night against the winner of today’s Air Force/UNLV game.
Gonzaga, which ran away with the West Coast Conference regular season, are down the road in Surprise, the top seed in its final appearance in the event. The Bulldogs open today, playing fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s, upset winners over Pepperdine on Wednesday.
If the Cougars win the MWC title, they’ll be headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010. The Zags? Though they have played in the NCAAs four times since WSU last broke through, it would be their first since 2022.
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WSU: Cedric Coward did not have a long career in Pullman, due to an injury. But he will probably have a long NBA career after being named to this season’s All-Rookie First Team. … Do you know if there had been a 24-team playoff in place from the beginning, Washington State would have participated in two of them? Would a spectacular run in 2018 have ensured the Cougars a spot in the Power Four when the Pac-12 fell apart? Would the Pac-12 even have fallen apart? We will never know. … There are reports the Cougs are looking at moving its Week 13 game, the flex one under the Pac-12 model, to Seattle instead of hosting in Pullman. The penciled-in opponent is Oregon State. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner, which notes in the Mercury News that UW would have appeared in five of them, explains why the Huskies favor the 24-team model. … John Canzano wonders if the proliferation of sporting events and leagues and TV exposure and the like is killing the casual fan. … Washington’s recruiting has improved. … Colorado’s recruiting seems to be thriving. … Stanford and Notre Dame have extended their nonconference series through 2028. … In basketball news, Washington’s men reportedly have added another international player to its roster. … UCLA announced the signing of four transfers. … In softball news prior to this week’s Super Regionals, Arizona State has momentum but Texas probably has a better team. … Colorado State’s longtime coach has retired.
Gonzaga: There is some big news on the basketball front. No, not a transfer portal addition. A possible premier tournament in 2027. Theo Lawson has a story on the Diamond Cup, an eight-team event that is being put together and would include some of the biggest names in the sport. … CBS broke the news but it’s covered by just about everyone today. … The series with Kentucky, which still had two games left? It is no more. Theo has this story on the schools deciding to pull the plug after four games, three of them GU wins and the fourth an overtime loss. … We linked Colton Clark’s preview of the WCC tournament above. And do it again here. Could the Zags, with their 35-17 record, still make the NCAA field even if they don’t win the conference tournament? Probably not. Their RPI is 52, a dangerous place to be, and with the WCC lack of quality depth (the next-highest WCC RPI belongs to Portland at 124), it will drop with a loss no matter when it happened.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Arizona has added another men’s player to its roster, one that began his career in Tucson. … What does Montana’s coach think of his women’s roster?
Preps: The State golf tournament finished up around Washington on Wednesday and the GSL had one team winner: The Cheney boys in the 3A ranks. Jim Meehan’s roundup also includes the individual results as well. … Mt. Spokane has been the best fastpitch program in the GSL for a while. But the Wildcats, nor any of the GSL teams, haven’t won a State title since the early 2000s. Madison McCord has a preview of this weekend’s tournaments. … We also can pass along this roundup of the boys’ 2A soccer qualifiers Wednesday.
Indians: Dave was busy yesterday, capped by being at Avista Stadium last night to cover Vancouver’s 7-5 win over host Spokane.
Zephyr: We linked Dave’s news story above. And here too in case you missed it.
Mariners: With it being a getaway day game Wednesday, we sat and watched most of the M’s nail-biting 5-4 victory over the White Sox. It was actually fun. Especially when Jose A. Ferrer struck out Colson Montgomery to end it. … J.P. Crawford has volunteered to play third base after his shoulder heals up, if that’s what the M’s need. … Matt Brash is back in the bullpen and pitched last night.
Seahawks: What is “net rest” and how do the Hawks rate?
Storm: It just wasn’t the Seattle offense that struggled to keep up with the Sun on Wednesday. Late in the Storm’s loss, they struggled on both ends.
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• I live on a walking trail. And feel responsible for the weeds that grow between the path and our back fence. Not sure I am anymore – when it was a dirt road we used to get letters from the city, but haven’t in a few years – but still, they shouldn’t be out of control. They no longer are after the time I put in yesterday morning. My back, on the other hand, is. Even the heating pad gave up this morning. Until later …
