Round up your retro Portland Fire jerseys! The WNBA is returning to the Rose City!
22 years after the short-lived Fire folded, the WNBA has announced that league is expanding to Portland, with the franchise set to debut in 2026.
Last fall, soon after the WNBA confirmed expansion to Golden State for the 2025 season, Portland emerged as the leading candidate for a second expansion franchise, with the bid led by billionaire Kirk Brown.
That effort fell through, but, almost one year later, the league will, in fact, find it’s way to back to Portland. RAJ Sports, which is led by the Bhathal family, owners of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns, will own and operate the team. Lisa Bhathal Merage will be the controlling owner, along with her brother, Alex Bhathal. As Alex Bhathal told ESPN:
As we were pursuing the Thorns, we became very convinced that the Portland market was a great market for sports in general and women’s sports. Having seen the media reports that the WNBA opportunity was something the WNBA wanted to do, but there were some issues with the timing and potentially finding the right ownership group, it became an ‘aha’ moment that maybe this is something that we could do as well and create a multisport platform in the market and really cement Portland as the epicenter for women’s sports.
The team is expected to play at the Moda Center, home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. However, the arena is scheduled for summer renovations from 2027 to 2029, which likely will result in the team playing in Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Alex Bhathal expressed to ESPN:
Our expectation is we’ll be playing at the Moda Center. There could be a situation where we play on a temporary basis at somewhere else, the VMC, but because of the indeterminate nature of those negotiations, our base case is we’ll be playing in Moda Center for the visible future.
Bhathal also indicated the ownership group’s intention to invest in a “first-class, state-of-the-art” training facility.
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It has yet to be determined if the franchise will revive the Fire nickname or opt for a new brand. Lisa Bhathal Merage told ESPN, “At the root of it is the community. We truly consider ourselves vessels. We are a vessel to bring this team back to Portland. Community input is very important to us.” She added:
It’s an exciting time. It’s fun to be able to create a new team from scratch. Our hope is by the spring we’ll have an announcement, but we do of course have deadlines if we want to have more customized jerseys with Nike and things like that.
The WNBA is expected to add a 16th team by 2028. Cities believed to be in contention for the franchise are Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville and Miami. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has emphasized, “We’ll look very hard at what Team 16 might look like, but on track for no later than ‘28 for Team 16.”
How will the expansion drafts work?
But first, the three announced expansion franchises—Golden State, Toronto and now Portland—must build their teams.
The league soon will announce the date and rules for the expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries. Engelbert told ESPN:
Our teams do know how we’re thinking about the expansion draft. We’ve been socializing it with the GMs and head coaches for quite some time for next year. Then, the following year, we’ll start planning that. We’ve got to get this year’s expansion draft done. … We’ll see how ‘26 plays out. We do have to talk with the players’ association and the players about that.
The 2026 expansion draft likely will involve additional complications, as it not only will feature two teams, but could also be conducted under a new CBA. If the league or WNBPA choose to opt out of the current CBA before Nov. 1, it would expire after the 2025 season. As that is the expected course of action, few players are under contract past the 2025 season, potentially making a traditional expansion draft difficult.
