WNBA Announces Expansion Team in Portland, League’s 15th Franchise
The WNBA is expanding to Portland by awarding the league’s 15th franchise to the city.
The team, announced Wednesday, will begin play in 2026 and will be led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, the owners of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns. The family also has ties to the NBA, as Raj Bhathal, their father, is the majority co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and serves as majority owner Vivek Ranadive’s deputy on the league’s board of governors.
The team plays its home games at the Moda Center in downtown Portland, which is also home to the NBA’s Trail Blazers.
“We believe in the transformative power of women’s sports and are thrilled to call the W Portland home,” Lisa Bhathal Merage said in a statement. “We know that Portland’s vibrant and diverse communities will be incredibly supportive and supportive of this team. Our goal is to grow this organization in partnership with the Portland community and we look forward to supporting the best women’s basketball players in the world when they take the court at Moda Center in 2026.”
The @WNBAThe 15th team calls Rose City home.
🌹🏀 #WelcometotheW photo.twitter.com/7Qqf0igffW
— WNBA Portland (@wnbaportland) September 18, 2024
Portland previously had a WNBA team from 2000 to 2002. The Fire, as they were known, were owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Although they had a loyal fan base, the organization struggled with financial losses and went bankrupt after three seasons.
News of Portland’s expansion also comes after the city was strongly considered by the WNBA to be the site of its 14th franchise, which was later awarded to Toronto. Portland’s previous bid for a WNBA team was led by Kirk Brown, a wealthy businessman who founded the company now called ZoomInfo.
But such talks collapsed late in the process, just before a public announcement was made last fall.
In a letter from last November to US Senator Ron Wydenwho informed Wyden that the city’s consideration in the league’s upcoming expansion round would be “deferred for the time being,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said wrote that while it “became clear that Portland is an ideal destination for a WNBA franchise,” issues surrounding Moda Center would prevent Portland from getting a team right away.
Engelbert later told reporters during NBA All-Star Weekend last February “There’s definitely more to it. There’s always more to it. It’s never just one thing,” he added, “you have to find the right ownership groups with the right arena situation that are committed to the long term.”
In February 2023, Engelbert visited Portland for an event focused on women’s sports, moderated by Wyden. Held at The Sports Bra, a Portland bar dedicated to women’s sports, it featured performances by prominent women in sports from across the state.
In October, just weeks before Engelbert’s letter, Wyden expressed his confidence in an interview with The Athletics about Portland’s chances of getting a WNBA team.
“What the commissioner saw when she accepted my invitation to come to Oregon is, I think, unprecedented in the country,” he said. “We mobilized, not just the Ducks and the Beavers and the Thorns and the Trail Blazers and all that. We showed that enthusiasm for a team in our community is unprecedented.
“I think that’s why we’re going to win when the final score is announced.”
In a statement Wednesday, Engelbert called the WNBA’s return to Portland “another important step forward” for the league.
“Portland is an epicenter of the women’s sports movement and is home to a passionate community of basketball fans,” Engelbert said. “By combining this energy with the Bhathal family’s vision of leading elite professional sports teams, we will ensure we deliver a premier WNBA team to the Portland region.”
The Portland Fire — and their mascot, Spot — played three seasons in the WNBA from 2000 to 2002. (Sam Forencich/WNBAE/Getty Images)
Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report, who first reported the news of Portland’s expansionsaid the Bhathals’ existing relationship with the NBA gave them a significant advantage throughout the process.
“It’s a basketball town,” said Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts, who was an assistant coach with the Trail Blazers from 2013 to 2021. “There’s not a lot of professional sports there, I know they support winning teams and it’s a great place to be in the summer, so I’m definitely looking forward to going there. With the University of Oregon and Oregon State, and the history they have with women’s basketball, it’s definitely going to be a city and a state that supports it, which is awesome.”
Last May, the WNBA announced its decision to expand to Toronto, where it will begin play in 2026.
In April, The Athletics were the first to report that the WNBA was planning to expand to 16 teams. The 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, will begin play next season and has already sold 17,000 season ticket deposits, making them the first professional women’s sports team to surpass that mark.
GALLING DEEPER
WNBA Expansion Valkyries Already Surpasses 17,000 Season Ticket Deposits
In April, Engelbert named Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville, Tennessee and South Florida as other locations where the league is looking at expansion opportunities. The Athletics It was previously reported that Charlotte, NC, is also being considered.
“With potential ownership groups vying for a piece of the W, we expect to have more news about the expansion in the coming months, and the goal remains what I said during (last April’s WNBA Draft), to have 16 teams by 2028,” Engelbert said during All-Star Weekend in July.
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(Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
