HOUSTON -- The team that won the first four WNBA championships is disbanding.

The Houston Comets will be shut down because new owners could not be found for the team.

Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander sold the team to Houston businessman Hilton Koch last year. The WNBA took over the franchise earlier this year.

League president Donna Orender said a new owner needed to be in place before the end of the year if the Comets wanted to stay in business. The sluggish economy slowed that process and Orender announced the franchise will fold.

The WNBA will officially announce the move on Tuesday.

"It's a sad day for me personally and, of course, for the city of Houston," former Comets Coach Van Chancellor told KPRC Local 2 Sports Monday evening. "We had a terrific run and I really feel for the fans who won't have the Comets in town to support anymore."

Fans do not want to see the team go.

"I hope all the people that follow the Comets will rally and help us find a buyer to help them for not only this season, but next season," Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said.

"It will be a loss. It will be a loss forus. I know there are a lot of Comet's fans here in Houston. I know a lot of people rally behind them, so it will be a loss for us not to have the Comets in Houston," fan Jarrett Milton|said.

The Comets were one of the original teams when the WNBA debuted in 1997 and won the league's first four championships under the leadership of Chancellor on the bench and the combination of Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Cynthia Cooper on the floor.

"I remember when the owner (Les Alexander) first told me he was going to buy another team and it would be in the WNBA," former Rockets and Comets GM Carroll Dawson told KPRC Local 2 Sports Monday. "It was a lot of fun and the big crowds we had were very loyal. I also remember first seeing Cynthia Cooper playing in Italy and calling Les to tell him we needed to draft a 34-year-old that had talent. He said, 'Let's do it.' And the rest is history."

"You can't ignore the fact this team was the engine that drove the league," Orender told the Associated Press. "We appreciate the fan base. With the affection the fans in the city have for the team, maybe one day the corporate and city leaders will aggregate their resources and resurrect a formidable franchise."

Orender said there is no indication that any of the league's other 13 franchises are in any trouble.

"Talent has been absolutely blooming," Orender said, referring to players like Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles and Candice Wiggins. "There are new cities in the pipeline and prospects for continued growth are bright. The league is stronger than ever."

Orender said a dispersal draft for Houston players will be Dec. 8. She has not ruled out a team returning to Houston.

Veteran Comets players Tina Thompson and Michelle Snow are both free agents and will not be available in the draft and are free to sign elsewhere.