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WNBA expansion is here – again.
The league announced Wednesday that Portland has acquired a new franchise that will become the WNBA’s 15th team when it launches in 2026. RAJ Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal-Meraj and her brother Alex Bhathal, will own and operate the team.
This news comes after the announcement of two other expansion franchises in Golden State (in October 2023) and Toronto (May 2024).
Portland was previously home to the WNBA team the Portland Fire, which played three seasons from 2000 to 2002 before folding. It was the only WNBA team to never reach the postseason.
The WNBA’s rapid expansion—the league hasn’t added a new team since 2008 but now has three on the way in the next two years—suggests the league’s vibrancy as it enters a new phase of rapid growth. With a new $2.2 billion media deal, greater investment from corporate partners, increased attendance and TV viewership, and now expansion, fans and stakeholders alike have plenty of reason to feel confident about where the WNBA is headed in the near future.
Here’s what we know about the new WNBA team heading to Portland:
When does Portland join the league? When do Golden State and Toronto start playing? How will roster spots be affected?
Portland will begin play during the 2026 WNBA season, the same year as Toronto. Golden State will begin the previous season in 2025.
This means the WNBA will have 13 teams in 2025, expanding to 15 teams in 2026.
Teams can carry a maximum of 12 players under current rules, so with three new teams, there will be a maximum of 36 additional roster spots in 2026, bringing the league total to about 180 (some teams carry 11 players due to cap space) that year. Alexa Philippou
Where will Portland play and train, and how will the Moda Center renovations complicate matters?
For at least the first season, Portland will play at Moda Center, home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers, who operate the arena, plan to renovate the Moda Center for two summers between 2027 and 2029, before hosting the NCAA women’s basketball finals in 2030. That would likely displace a WNBA team, most likely to nearby Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the Blazers played until 1995 and which is currently home to the Portland Winterhawks, a minor league hockey team.
“The timeline is still being determined at this point, and it’s still subject to negotiations,” Alex Bhathal told ESPN. “We anticipate that we will play at the Moda Center. There may be a situation where we temporarily play at another location, the Virginia Community Center, but because of the indefinite nature of these negotiations, our base case is that we will play at the Moda Center for the foreseeable future.”
As practice facilities become more important in the WNBA, with two independent teams (in addition to the Phoenix Mercury) opening practice facilities in the past two years, and the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings announcing plans to open their own practice facilities, Portland will open practice facilities as well.
“We will invest in a training facility for the WNBA as well as the Thorns,” said Bhathal, who along with Bhathal Miraj owns a majority stake in the WNBA’s Portland Thorns. “These are the commitments we have made. These will be first-class, state-of-the-art facilities.” Kevin Belton
What kind of market will Portland be for the WNBA, and what do we know about the owners?
Although this is technically Portland’s second attempt at the WNBA, it’s a whole new beginning.
The Portland Fire, who played only three seasons in the WNBA and never made the playoffs before collapsing, never really had a chance to build a fan base. It was similar to what happened to another short-lived WNBA team, the Miami Sol. The team made the playoffs once from 2000 to 2002 before also quickly collapsing.
Portland had the 2001 rookie of the year, thanks to No. 4 pick Jackie Stiles, who had become the NCAA’s leading scorer earlier that year. But multiple injuries quickly derailed Stiles’ career, with her playing in just 53 games over two seasons. Portland’s brief stint as a WNBA city was a disappointing story.
Now, more than two decades later, Oregon’s women’s basketball market is different, and so is the WNBA. The success of the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers—both of which have reached the semifinals in the past eight years—has boosted the sport’s popularity in the state. The WNBA’s talent pool has also grown, as evidenced by this year’s rookie class.
There will now be a rivalry in the WNBA’s Pacific Northwest between the Seattle Storm and Portland. The relationship between Portland—and the entire state of Oregon—and the new WNBA team will have a chance to really grow.
This is what the WNBA owners in Portland want.
“The foundation of it is the community,” said Bhathal Miraj. “We really see ourselves as ships. We are a ship to bring this team back to Portland. The community’s input is very important to us.” Michael Voebel
How will expansion teams be built?
According to league sources, the WNBA will soon announce the date and rules for Golden State’s expansion draft, which will take place after the season and before the start of free agency in January.
“Our teams know how we think about expansion,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told ESPN. “We’ve been talking with the general managers and the head coaches for some time for next year. Then the year after that, we’ll start planning for that. We have to get the expansion done this year … and we’ll see how it goes in 2026. We have to talk to the players association and the players about that.”
With Portland and Toronto joining the WNBA in 2026, several teams will participate in the expansion draft for the first time since 2000, when the league went from 12 teams to 16. The timing of this draft is complicated by the possibility of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that would increase salaries in the wake of new national television deals.
The league or the WNBA could opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement by Nov. 1, in which case it would expire after the 2025 season. Because of that possibility, only two players across the league have signed veteran contracts that extend beyond 2025. With so many free agents, the league may have to adjust the rules of the expansion draft to make it viable.
On the other hand, with Portland and Toronto not signing many of the WNBA’s biggest stars, both teams will have the opportunity to build strong rosters through free agency. Belton
What’s next for WNBA expansion?
Engelbert said last May that she hopes to expand to 16 teams by 2028.
“We will look very carefully at what Team 16 might look like, but on track no later than 2028 for Team 16,” Engelbert said.
In May, Engelbert mentioned Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville and South Florida as places the league was in discussions with for potential expansion teams. Regarding potential expansion in Florida, the WNBA had teams in Orlando (which moved to the Connecticut Sun in 2003) and Miami (which closed in 2002).
“The good thing is that we have a lot of demand but very low supply,” Engelbert said this week. Philip
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