PORTLAND, Ore. — Plans to bring a WNBA expansion team in Portland have been put on hold, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden in a letter Wednesday.
Wyden has been one of the primary figures behind a push to bring a WNBA team to Portland. In a letter dated Nov. 1, Engelbert told Wyden that while it's clear Portland is an "ideal destination for a WNBA franchise," the league decided to defer consideration of a WNBA franchise in Portland until questions surrounding renovations at the Moda Center are resolved.
"When the time is right, we look forward to pursuing prospects for bringing the WNBA to Portland," Englebert said.
Englebert is referring to an ongoing three-phase renovation at the Moda Center, home arena of the Portland Trail Blazers. The first project was completed this past summer. Though dates for when the final two projects will be carried out have yet to be reported, Trail Blazers president Dewayne Hankins said at Blazers Media Day that they need to happen sometime between 2024 and 2028, so that the renovation will be complete by 2030 when Portland hosts the NCAA Women's Final Four.
The final two renovation projects would happen during the NBA offseason, Hankins said at media day. The majority of the WNBA season takes place during the NBA offseason, so a WNBA team in Portland would have to find somewhere other than Moda Center to play while renovations were happening. It seems that issue couldn't be resolved to the WNBA's satisfaction.
Bill Oram of the Oregonian, who was first to report the news Wednesday, said Blazers leaders were surprised by Engelbert's statement. Oram reported that Blazers owner Jody Allen "agreed to push back plans for a major overhaul to the arena slated for 2026 until 2027 to ensure that the WNBA team would play multiple seasons at Moda Center before being displaced for what was expected to be one season."
Oram reported that it's unclear if Kirk Brown, the local entrepreneur behind an ownership group for a Portland WNBA expansion team, is still involved in trying to get discussions with the WNBA back on track or whether that's still possible at this point. According to Oram, multiple sources told The Oregonian that others have expressed interest "in forming an ownership group in hopes of salvaging a deal, but it is unclear how viable those efforts might be if the root issue is actually the Blazers' Moda Center renovations."
On Oct. 5, the WNBA announced a new expansion team in the Bay Area, the WNBA's 13th team that would start play in 2025. During the announcement that day, Engelbert said the league's goal was to "have a 14th team by 2025 as well."
Multiple reports indicated at the time that Portland was a leading candidate to become the home city of the WNBA's 14th team and that an announcement was expected in the coming weeks. But no announcement came and Engelbert's letter to Wyden squashed the hopes of many in Portland who were eager to see it happen.
Portland has been pegged as an ideal fit for the WNBA, with proven interest in college women's basketball at Oregon and Oregon State, and one of the most dedicated fan bases in the NWSL with the Portland Thorns, who rank third in the league in attendance this season.
Portland had a WNBA team for three seasons, from 2000 until it folded following the 2002 season. The Portland Fire were a popular draw, with more than 8,000 fans attending games at the Rose Garden on game nights, a number that would have ranked second in the WNBA last season, behind only the Seattle Storm.