WNBA expansion: League to bring franchise back to Portland after more than 20 years, per report

The WNBA is making a return to Portland after an original expansion team folded in 2003

The WNBA might soon be returning to Portland, Oregon. According to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report, the WNBA is set to announce that the Rose City has been awarded an expansion team with the Bhathal family as the owners.

An official announcement from the WNBA is slated for Sept. 10, per Highkin. When that does happen, it will mark a long-awaited return to Portland for the league. The Portland Fire, along with the Miami Sol, were expansion teams in 2000. However, both franchises lasted just three seasons before folding.

Since then, the popularity of the sport has exploded, and expansion teams in Chicago and Atlanta have been successful. In fact, Portland was close to being awarded an expansion team last year, but that fell through at the last second, and the WNBA announced the Golden State Valkyries out of San Francisco and a still unnamed Toronto team.

The new Portland team will join the WNBA in the 2026 season, and it's still unknown whether it will revive the old Fire nickname.

The Bhathal family already has local ties to Portland since they became the owners of the NWSL's Portland Thorns earlier this year. The family also has a pre-existing relationship with the NBA as Raj Bhathal is the principal co-owner of the Sacramento Kings, and serves as majority owner Vivek Ranadive's alternate on the Board of Governors.

This continues a round of aggressive expansion by the WNBA, which plans to be at 16 teams by 2028. Portland will be the 15th team, and a handful of cities are still in the running to land an expansion franchise, including Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville and Miami.