PORTLAND, Ore. — According to multiple reports, including Howard Megdal at The Next, the WNBA is discussing adding an expansion team in Portland starting in 2025, and in conjunction with the recent new team in San Francisco.
Megdal, who also hosts the Locked on Women's Basketball podcast, reports the discussions on Portland have reached the Board of Governors.
Adding a team in the Rose City would give the league 14 teams as they head into a pivotal 2025 campaign where they will negotiate a new media rights deal, and could impact new CBA negotiations in 2027 as well.
Megdal was joined by SFGate's Alex Simon to discuss Portland and WNBA expansion on a recent episode of the podcast, including why adding two teams in the west coast makes sense for the league.
"This is a really smart move for the WNBA in part because, look at where the success has been in women's sports," Simon said. "As much as there are teams that have been successful on the east coast, the top three teams in the National Women's Soccer League, in terms of financial value, are all west coast based. Portland has historically been a sensational women's soccer market."
The Seattle Storm are among the most popular WNBA brands, and adding two natural west coast rivalries in Portland and San Francisco should help boost an already strong women's sports market even more.
Portland did have a WNBA team once upon a time, for three seasons from 2000-2002 before the team folded. However, with the rise in popularity of women's sports locally, and behind a dedicated ownership group led by Kirk Brown of Zoominfo and with support of the Blazers and Vulcan, a franchise in Portland will almost certainly have more staying power.
An announcement has yet to be made, but with 18 months the standard amount of time given to ownership groups to get a team ready to start, it wouldn't be a surprise to see another expansion reveal coming soon once the details are finalized.