Expansion is coming to the WNBA at some point in the next few years, that much is clear. The when and where, however, is still to be determined. There are a number of cities in the mix, including Portland, which is gaining momentum according to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.
His office released a statement on the matter on Thursday:
"Senator Wyden is hearing from people high up in the bball business that Portland is making good progress on getting a WNBA team. He's hoping and working to hear later this year that PDX will be one of the new WNBA franchises."
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has made expansion one of her priorities, but the timeline for the process has shifted. In an interview with The Athletic on June 2, 2022, Engelbert said the league had narrowed the list to 10-12 cities and she hoped to announce one or two new expansion teams at the end of the year at the latest in order for them to begin play in 2024.
That, obviously, did not happen.
In December of 2022, Engelbert told The Athletic that the expansion teams would not begin play until 2025 at the earliest. At an event in Portland in February of 2023, she said the league was "not in a rush" and expansion was "two-to-four years out." Furthermore, in an interview with the Sports Business Journal in May of 2023, Engelbert noted the list of potential cities had been cut down from 100 to 20 -- more than double the short-list she cited a year prior -- and said the league was "not far down the road with any one."
During her discussion with the SBJ, Engelbert specifically noted her trip to Portland when she discussed the potential locations.
"I visited Portland earlier this year, which I had visited right before the pandemic, and saw the love for women's basketball there," Engelbert said.
Portland previously had a short-lived WNBA team, the Fire, who lasted just three seasons from 2000-2002, when it folded due to financial problems. There is an appetite for women's basketball in the region, though, as highlighted by the tremendous success of the University of Oregon's women's basketball program in recent years.
Whether the city ends up beating out the likes of the Bay Area, Toronto, Nashville and Philadelphia, among others, remains to be seen. But given Engelbert's past comments and the note from Sen. Wyden, it certainly appears Portland is strongly in the mix.
