The American Basketball League (ABL), the first women's professional basketball league, started in 1996 with the Seattle Reign as one of its charter member teams. Midway through its third season on December 22, 1998, the ABL suspended operations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, due to poor attendance, lack of sponsorship, and competition from the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Two years later Seattle received the Seattle Storm WNBA franchise, which has since won the WNBA Championship four times (as of 2025).
This poster advertises the inaugural season for the Seattle Reign with a circular photo of ten players in a huddle looking down at the camera.
Text on poster (players clockwise from middle top): Tara Davis, Andrea Nagy, Rhonda Smith, Venus Lacy, Angela Aycock, Kate Paye, Linda Godby, Tari Phillips, Christy Hedgpeth, Cindy Brown; Seattle Reign; The Season It All Begins 1996-97; Photo Donated By Joel Levin Photographic Services, Design Donated By Plateau Graphics Design Group, Printing By: Allied Printing
Caption information source: "ABL Folds Reignout - Bankruptcy Stuns Players, Coaches," by Larry Stone, Seattle Times, December 23, 1998, p. E1.
Physical Description: 1 poster : color ; 18 in. diameter
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
