Coors Bids Adieu As Chief Sponsor For The Colorado Silver Bullets

Coors Brewing Co., which has invested more than $8 million in the Colorado Silver Bullets since the women’s baseball team’s inception four years ago, announced Thursday it is bowing out as chief sponsor.

“They sent us a note and said they don’t have enough money to continue on,” said Bob Hope, who owns the team with Phil Niekro and Paul Beckham. “That’s business, and it happens. Our concern is, we see it’s more important to establish an opportunity for women to play baseball.”

The next step is trying to get someone else to step up and be a major sponsor, Hope said. The team’s secondary sponsors include Pepsi-Cola, Ocean Spray, Lifetime Television, the Women’s Sports Foundation, Major League Baseball, Reebok and General Motors, he said.

The team won only six of 44 games in its inaugural season as it barnstormed the country playing men’s teams. The next year it won 11 and last year 18.

This season, heading into the final four games of the season in Albany, Ga., the team had won 20 games and appeared ready to finish above .500 for the first time.