HOUSTON — Hilton Koch, owner of one-store Hilton

Furniture and Mattress, has acquired the WNBA Houston Comets in a deal he said will enable him to promote his business and give back to the community at the same time.

Koch, who was en route to the Las Vegas Furniture Market Thursday after closing on the sale, would not disclose the terms.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am,” he said. “I’m just about as excited about the Houston Comets as I am about the furniture industry.”

Koch, whose 30,000-square-foot showroom the Gulf Freeway near Almeda Mall does about $10 million a year, said he has been a corporate sponsor of the NBA’s Houston Rockets for four years and the Comets for three.

“I’ve grown to have a great passion for the game of basketball and what it gives (back),” he said, noting that the WNBA’s mission statement talks about leadership, inspiration, creating change and having fun, something he’s strives to do in business.

What’s more, the WNBA’s target audience is women — just like the furniture industry, he said.

The Comets are one of the WNBA’s eight charter teams and won the league’s first four championships. Last year, it reached the conference finals before falling, and Koch said he believe the team will be good again this year (it’s currently searching for a new coach).

The season runs from May through August — perfect timing, Koch said, “because that’s when the industry slows down a bit.”

He said the Comets and his furniture store will work to promote each other and support the furniture industry. Koch, whose zany ads have landed him on the “Late Night with Conan O’Brian” show, already had the marketing wheels spinning on his ride from the airport to the World Market Center.
 
“Maybe we’ll have some fan appreciation sale,” he said. “Or maybe with every purchase of $1,000 or more, you’ll get free tickets to the Comets game.”