The WNBA is constant to develop — and the most recent franchise is coming to Portland, Oregon, the league introduced Wednesday morning. With Toronto, San Francisco, and now Portland every getting their very own WNBA groups, the league may have 16 groups by 2026.
It’s not the primary time WNBA basketball will likely be performed in Oregon. Portland beforehand had a WNBA workforce, the Portland Hearth from 2000 to 2002, earlier than that franchise was in the end shut down. The league was near bringing a workforce to Portland final fall, however these plans — with a distinct possession group — fell by means of. Portland’s new WNBA workforce is ready to start play in 2026.
RAJ Sports activities will head the possession group, led by house owners Lisa Bhathal Merage and her brother, Alex Bhathal. They just lately bought Portland Thorns FC, knowledgeable girls’s soccer workforce. The Portland Thorns have the third-highest attendance within the NWSL, averaging greater than 18,000 followers per sport this season.
“Because the WNBA builds on a season of unprecedented development, bringing a workforce again to Portland is one other vital step ahead,” mentioned WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a press release. “Portland has been an epicenter of the ladies’s sports activities motion and is residence to a passionate group of basketball followers. Pairing this power with the Bhathal household’s imaginative and prescient of main top-flight skilled sports activities groups will make sure that we ship a premier WNBA workforce to the higher Portland space.”
The Portland WNBA workforce will play its residence video games at Moda Heart in downtown Portland, the place the NBA’s Portland Path Blazers play.
Two different WNBA enlargement groups are already within the works: Golden State in 2025 and Toronto in 2026. Golden State’s identify and branding have already been revealed — the workforce will likely be generally known as the Valkyries — whereas Toronto’s has but to be introduced.
The Valkyries are off to a record-breaking begin, having already obtained 17,000 season ticket deposits for subsequent season. Plans for his or her state-of-the-art facility have additionally been launched.
The Golden State Valkyries have unveiled plans for 2 new initiatives:
• 6,800 sq ft locker room in Chase Heart
• 31,800 sq ft follow facility in OaklandThey’re each set to open in early 2025. pic.twitter.com/hAMXqdzGn2
— Entrance Workplace Sports activities (@FOS) September 12, 2024
With Portland’s workforce now official, the WNBA will embrace 15 groups by 2026. Beforehand, Commissioner Cathy Englebert introduced that the league’s goals to succeed in 16 groups by 2028. Denver, Nashville, Philadelphia and Charlotte have all been rumored to be within the combine.
