Once before, Ron Terwilliger brought a professional sports franchise to Atlanta. A fond reminder of that short-lived, long-gone team remains on the desk in his Buckhead office: a soccer ball signed by members of the Atlanta Attack, circa 1990.

Across the spacious office, another ball —- not yet autographed —- updates Terwilliger's decor: an Atlanta Dream basketball.

From the Attack to the Dream, with a run at the Braves in between, Terwilliger is a busy real-estate executive who keeps finding time for sports. He is, after all, a self-proclaimed "sports nut." Undaunted by a money-losing stint as owner of the Attack —- an indoor soccer team that played its games in the old Omni arena —- and a futile bid to buy the Braves, the 67-year-old Terwilliger signed on last fall as owner of Atlanta's expansion franchise in the Women's National Basketball Association.

In a seven-month fast break since then, the new WNBA team chose a name, designed logos and uniforms, hired coaches and a 30-person front-office staff, drafted players, sold about 2,300 season tickets, negotiated TV and radio deals, and introduced itself around town. And now the Atlanta Dream are ready to play ball, opening their season Saturday at Connecticut and their home schedule May 23 against Detroit in Philips Arena.

"The timeline led to a sense of urgency and focus that kept us on track," said Bill Bolen, the Dream's president.

For the most part, Bolen and Terwilliger said, the start-up has gone smoothly —- with one major complication.

"The thing that's unfortunate," Terwilliger said, "is we are launching in a recession. And [therefore] sponsorships have not been what I had hoped."

Chairman and CEO since 1986 of Atlanta-based Trammell Crow Residential, one of the nation's largest developers of apartments and condominiums, Terwilliger knows some politicians and economists argue the country is not in the R-word.

"Technically, they say a recession is two negative quarters of GDP [gross domestic product] growth," Terwilliger said. "But you've seen the consumer sentiment surveys. If the public feels like they're in a recession, as far as I'm concerned, we're in a recession."

So this is a bad time to launch a sports team?

"From the sponsorship standpoint, it's not a good time," Terwilliger said. "But I've got a very long view of this team."

Then with a smile: "I just think that whenever I enter into the sports business, people should expect a recession to occur a year later. That happened with the Attack, also."

Terwilliger said the economy might have played a minor role in holding the Dream's season-ticket sales below the 3,000 he wanted. The greater impact, he said, has been on corporate sponsorships —- a vital revenue source for any pro team.

"Even where we have gotten sponsors, they've cut back from what we originally thought they were going to do," Terwilliger said. "I'm counting on us ... picking up more sponsorships in our second year."

Core business affected

The slow economy —- specifically, the turmoil in the housing and credit markets —- also has impacted Terwilliger's core business, although he said Trammell Crow Residential is relatively well positioned. Aside from one large Atlanta condo project, the company is "right now focused 100 percent on building rental apartments" in about 25 cities, Terwilliger said.

"Ultimately, the rental business is going to benefit from the morass in the for-sale business," he said. "And so I'm in the right business, but ... the banks are very restrictive in terms of making construction loans and equity is harder to get than it was. And so my business is not nearly as much fun as it has been for the last five years."

He expects, however, to have a lot of fun with his new business, the Dream.

Consumed with other commitments —- "I was on an airplane 26 days in a recent 30-day period" —- Terwilliger has delegated day-to-day operations to team president Bolen and head coach/general manager Marynell Meadors. Terwilliger hired Bolen, a Harvard Business School graduate with a background in consulting and marketing, despite his lack of experience in pro sports.

"Sometimes you get too close to things and feel you have to do them the same way you've always done them," Terwilliger said, "and Bill didn't come with that liability."

First try did not succeed

A baseball and basketball player at the U.S. Naval Academy in the early 1960s, Terwilliger was introduced to the thrills and perils of sports ownership with the Attack, the men's indoor soccer team that debuted in the fall of 1989.

"He was really proud of that team," recalled sportscaster Art Eckman, who broadcast Attack games and, almost two decades later, will call Dream games.

Terwilliger bailed out of the Attack after two seasons of losses reportedly approaching $1 million, "because I concluded it wasn't going to get any better." He sold the team, and the new owners moved it to Kansas City.

Two years ago, Terwilliger made a bid for the Braves; he was in the process of assembling an ownership group when Time Warner decided to sell the team to Colorado-based Liberty Media in a tax-friendly deal."I still hope one day the Braves will be back in local ownership," Terwilliger said.

His interest in owning a women's basketball team began last year with a call from A.J. Robinson, president of downtown business group Central Atlanta Progress, and Lisa Borders, president of the Atlanta City Council. They were members of a 12-person group —- mostly women —- who aggressively pursued a WNBA team for the city for about a year. By the time they called Terwilliger, they had just about everything in place —- except an owner.

"They didn't have to sell me hard," Terwilliger said.

After a few months of due diligence and negotiation, he agreed to pay the WNBA $10 million for the Atlanta franchise. He paid $1 million upfront, will pay at least another $1 million during the next four years and will pay the remaining $8 million in annual installments beginning in 2012, the amount of each payment tied to the team's financial performance. Any unpaid balance, plus interest, will be due in 2017.

Terwilliger figures the team needs to draw about 7,000 fans per game for him to break even, and he admits contemplating the checkered attendance record of Atlanta's teams.

"Atlanta does not have a history of supporting its professional men's teams terrifically; we're pretty uneven," he said. "But with the diversity and size of this metro area and with the fact we would be the only [WNBA] team in the Southeast, a hotbed of college women's basketball —- I just felt it was something I ought to give the Atlanta community a chance to support.

"You know, I've got two daughters and two granddaughters, and I don't know why the public shouldn't support the finest athletes in the world. These women, they are phenomenal basketball players. ... I want women to have a chance to succeed in the professional sports business."

Big challenges await

Success comes hard for upstart sports franchises. In the WNBA's 11-year history, four franchises have folded and two have relocated. Before the Dream, franchise failures in Charlotte and Miami left the WNBA with no team in the Southeast. A previous women's basketball team here, the Atlanta Glory of the defunct American Basketball League, folded after two years.

In a cluttered Atlanta sports market, the Dream's first two challenges will be "awareness and trial," said Paul Swangard, executive director of the University of Oregon's sports marketing center. "Make sure people are aware you're there," Swangard said, "and then convert that awareness to, 'Yeah, I'll come out and try that once.' "

The Dream's Bolen conceded, "There are still plenty of people in this town who do not know we exist today. And that's OK. We'll get to them."

Said Swangard: "It's going to take 20 years to develop a generation of fans that really sees this league as viable and to get the sponsors and television dollars and media coverage that most leagues need to sustain themselves."

Terwilliger has told his coach, Meadors, he wants a winning record by the third season and a championship contender by the fifth or sixth season. He would like to make money on the team eventually, but "that is not what I need to feel successful."

And what will define success for the Dream?

"Essentially, the Atlanta community adopting the team," Terwilliger said. "The only way I wouldn't continue with this team is if the community just shows no interest."

DREAM OWNER

> Name: J. Ronald Terwilliger

> Age: 67

> Education: A graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Received an MBA degree from Harvard.

> Professionally: Chairman and CEO since 1986 of Atlanta-based Trammell Crow Residential, which develops apartments and condominiums nationwide. Past chairman of the Urban Land Institute and current chairman of the Habitat for Humanity International board of directors. Inducted this month into the National Association of Homebuilders Hall of Fame in Washington.

> Sports background: Played baseball and basketball at Navy. Was the basketball team's leading scorer and an Academic All-American in 1963. Owned the Atlanta Attack indoor soccer team in 1989-91. Chairs the athletics subcommittee at Navy.

> Philanthropy: Has donated more than $10 million in the past two years to affordable housing initiatives.

> Family: Married; two daughters; one stepson and one stepdaughter.

> Residences: Formerly a full-time Atlantan; now splits time among Atlanta, Long Island, N.Y., and Key Largo, Fla.

DREAM OPENER

> Who: At Connecticut Sun

> When: 4 p.m. Saturday

> TV; radio: CSS; 1230 AM, 1340 AM

> Home opener: May 23 vs. Detroit Shock, 7:30 p.m., Philips Arena.