SAN ANTONIO -- The owner of the San Antonio Spurs says his team has been told it will get a WNBA franchise next year, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Spurs chairman Peter Holt said NBA officials "have committed to us that we will be in the WNBA in 2003," the San Antonio Express-News reported.

"We've been pushing them for a quick formal decision, so that when the women's Final Four (basketball tournament) is here at the end of March, we can start kicking off our WNBA marketing. That's our goal," Holt said.

WNBA spokeswoman Maureen Coyle wouldn't confirm Holt's account that a team is destined for San Antonio next year.

"We're committed to our 16 markets, but San Antonio is a top candidate for a WNBA franchise," she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. That could come either through league expansion or relocation, she said.

Holt, who didn't return a message left Tuesday by the AP, told the newspaper that the Spurs were scheduled to meet with the WNBA in the next couple of weeks.

The WNBA is collectively owned by the 29 NBA franchises, with NBA teams being granted operating agreements to run WNBA teams. The 16-team women's league, founded in 1997, plays a summer schedule in NBA arenas.

If the WNBA doesn't expand, one possibility for San Antonio could be the Charlotte Sting, the team now managed by the NBA's Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets are waiting league approval to move to New Orleans for next season. That has raised speculation that the Sting might be moved as well.

Coyle said the Sting will play the 2002 season in Charlotte. Given the Hornets' unsettled status, it's too early to talk about where the Sting might play in 2003, she said.