The WNBA is a rapidly growing league, and it was just announced that the league will add its 15th team in the city of Portland. Portland is a great city that will welcome the new franchise; they are now a basketball city, with the only other major sports team being the Trail Blazers of the NBA. The addition of this Portland franchise will make for little competition when it comes to fans choosing games to go to, as the next closest WNBA teams are the Seattle Storm and the LA Sparks. The franchise is owned by RAJ Sports and led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who also own the Sacramento Kings. Though the Bhathals wanted to start the team sooner, Portland will begin play in the 2026 season. When this news came about, it was a relief to many supporters of this franchise expansion.
There is no official name for the new team as of now, although one will be decided soon. It will be interesting to see if ownership chooses the team’s name or if they will enlist the help of a fan vote to decide the name.
Portland is an exciting location pick due to the city’s love of women’s sports and for having the first all-women’s sports bar in the country. Portland also may be the most significant untapped market when it comes to starting a sports team in a city.
The team will share the Moda Center with the Trail Blazers, which will be a great venue to host games at, and train at a state-of-the-art facility.
Two more teams starting in the near future are the Golden State will gain a team in 2026, and the Toronto team in 2026. It would be interesting to see which expansion teams perform the best in their first years.
A unique aspect of the Portland team is that their city hosted a different franchise from 2000 to 2002. However, the team folded, and the city could not sustain the franchise in its early years. If Portland successfully bring back a team, who’s to say that Seattle cannot kickstart the Supersonics? This expansion will be an experiment for the NBA to keep an eye on.
In recent years, Portland has become a center for women’s sports, drawing record crowds for soccer games and other events. Therefore, the city is ready to accept them and go all in with their new team. Additionally, the WNBA is in a better position as a league, which should help with any early struggles the franchise may face. This is a massive opportunity to tap into a great market and the perfect city to grow the WNBA league and women’s basketball as a whole.