Editor’s note: This article was originally published in April. It was updated on Sept. 19 after the WNBA announced a new team in Portland.
The WNBA is returning to Portland.
The league announced the expansion on Wednesday. The Portland team is the third expansion team announced in the past 12 months. Portland was once home to the WNBA’s Portland Fire, which played for three seasons from 2000 to 2002 before folding.
“As the WNBA builds on a season of unprecedented growth, bringing a team back to Portland is another important step forward,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a press release. “Portland has been an epicenter of the women’s sports movement and is home to a passionate community of basketball fans.
A team name has yet to be announced, but we do know that the team will begin play in 2026 at the Moda Center, the home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
Will the WNBA expand to more cities?
In her pre-draft press conference in April, Engelbert said more announcements about expansion teams would come in the following weeks and months.
“The growth and demand for the WNBA have led us to expansion,” she said. “Women’s basketball is not a fad. We’ve been steadily building this momentum for years, and we’re ready for what’s next.”
The WNBA currently has 12 teams and will grow to 15 in 2026. An expansion team called the Golden State Valkyries will begin play next year, while Toronto and Portland will join the following year.
Engelbert said she is “confident” the WNBA will get to 16 teams by 2028, meaning one other market has yet to be announced.
“We’re on our way to 16,” she said. “That will add 48 roster spots in just a couple of years. That in a league of 144 is a lot, so that’s 30%, and I think it will be great when we get those done over the next couple of years.”
The Golden State Valkyries team, which was announced in October 2023, is the league’s first expansion team since the Atlanta Dream in 2008, according to ESPN.
The team is already making waves. On Friday, the Valkyries announced on Instagram that they were the first women’s sports team to receive over 17,000 season ticket deposits.
Which cities could get a WNBA expansion team?
Engelbert said the league is in talks with Philadelphia, Toronto, Denver, Nashville and South Florida about possibly becoming expansion markets.
The commissioner cited arenas, training facilities, player housing and “committed long-term” ownership groups as factors necessary for expansion teams.
During the regular season and playoffs, players are given the option of receiving a monthly housing stipend or living in team-provided housing, according to the league’s CBA.
But expansion is not limited to those six markets, per Engelbert.
“Those are the cities we’re talking to, but just last week we got calls from two other cities and these can either take a very long time to negotiate or can happen pretty quickly if you find the right ownership group with the right arena situation,” she said.
Will Ryan Smith bring the WNBA back to Salt Lake City?
Could the remaining expansion market be Salt Lake City? Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith was asked last year if he was considering bringing the WNBA back to Utah.
“We’ve got a pretty full plate right now, I’ll be honest,” he said. “But I know Cathy extremely well, and we talk a lot. And what she’s doing with the WNBA and Dwyane (Wade) actually just jumping into (the) Chicago team where he’s from, it’s exciting.”
In addition to the Jazz, Smith owns the NWSL’s Utah Royals, which recently returned to the state after a three-year hiatus.
“When you think about (the) WNBA or women’s sports, we’re in, and we’re not going to be halfway in, like that just is no. It’s all in and all the time,” he said. “The plate’s full, but we’ll keep rolling.”
A full plate hasn’t stopped Smith from expanding his ownership to other sports, so maybe the door isn’t fully closed on the WNBA’s return to Utah.
Smith purchased and moved the Arizona Coyotes to Utah. The team will play its first regular season game in Utah on Oct. 8.
What happened to Utah’s WNBA team?
Salt Lake City was previously home to one of the WNBA’s inaugural teams, the Utah Starzz. The team played in Utah from 1997 to 2002 before it was sold and relocated to San Antonio.
The team has since been sold and relocated again but this time to Las Vegas to become two-time defending WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces.
