Women sport hub Portland get WNBA franchise

Image: Moda Center, Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is headed back to Portland (US) with Oregon’s biggest City getting an expansion team that will begin play in 2026.

‘AP’ stated that the team will be owned and operated by RAJ Sports led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal who also own the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL – a professional women’s soccer league at the top of the United States league system). They paid $125 million for the franchise.

New York (US)-based the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women’s professional basketball league based in the United States and is composed of 12 teams. The league was founded on April 24^th, 1996.

Delaware (US)-based RAJ Sports, led by Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, focuses on investment opportunities in sports and sports-related properties drawing on the Bhathal family’s multigenerational experience and relationships in the industry. The firm seeks to leverage the power of sports to bring in broader social and economic change through a variety of business and philanthropic strategies. Its deep experience in professional sports operations and large-scale real estate developments that create thriving community centers positions the firm to deliver valuable assets that will support further growth for the players, the staff and the fans.

Exulted Bhathal Merage, “This is huge for Portland. We are so honored and humbled to be the vessel that delivers this WNBA franchise to Portland. And that’s really how we consider ourselves. Portland is this incredibly diverse, enthusiastic community. We saw the passion first-hand when we started looking into the Portland Thorns and this is Basketball City. So, we’re very excited about the future.”

Some 300 invited guests attended a kickoff event held at Portland’s 20,500-capacity Moda Center recently with the Bhathals, the WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the US Senator Ron Wyden, and other State and local officials. Afterwards, there was a community-wide event outside the stadium.

‘AP’ further stated that the Bhathals started having conversations with the WNBA late last year after a separate bid to bring a team to Portland fell through.

The City is well known for its embrace of women’s sports. In addition to the Thorns, who are drawing more than 18,000 fans on an average to its each home game at their home ground – the 25,218-capacity Providence Park in Portland, Oregon – Portland is home to the nation’s first bar exclusively for women’s sports, the Sports Bra, which opened in 2022 and recently announced plans for additional franchises.

Added Bhathal Merage, “It really wasn’t our intention when we came to the Portland community but we saw the opportunity, the stars aligned and here we are. We are at the epicenter of women’s professional sports.”

It’s the third expansion franchise the WNBA will add over the next two years with the Golden State (California) and Toronto (Canada) getting the other two. The Golden State Valkyries (WNBA team based in San Francisco, California) will begin play next season and Toronto (Toronto WNBA team) in 2026.

Informed Engelbert, “We’ve been working on Portland for a while so when we did our original data analysis, I guess two and a half years ago, Portland was one at the top of the list after the Bay Area. So, I’ve had my eye on Portland.”

The Oregon Governor Tina Kotek was unable to attend the event at the Moda Center, home of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Portland Trail Blazers, but issued a statement – “The decision to choose Portland for the next WNBA team is just as much a recognition of our past as it is about the faith in our future. Portland has an unequivocal love of women’s sports.”

Engelbert said she hopes to have more teams by 2028 but doesn’t think that the league will be adding any more that will start playing before 2027.

Portland had a WNBA team, the Portland Fire, from 2000 until it folded in 2002. That franchise averaged more than 8,000 fans when games were played at their home arena – the Rose Garden. The new franchise will play at the same arena, now known as the Moda Center, and the Bhathals plan to build a dedicated practice facility for the team as well.

In addition to the Thorns, the Bhathal family has been a Co-Owner of the NBA team Sacramento Kings since 2013. The Bhathals added to their sports portfolio earlier this year when they bought the women’s soccer team (Portland Thorns FC) for $63 million.

Maintained Wyden, “When you look at our numbers, not just the Thorns’ off-the-charts attendance, which is incredible, what you’ve seen, in Eugene (City in Oregon), what you’ve seen in Oregon State, we knew that this was going to be one of the great moments in sports for Oregon. We saw, February of 2023, what was possible. So, I can tell you that right now there are women playing in Portland. They’re rebounding in Roseburg, they’re hooping in Hermiston. Every nook and cranny of our State is into this.”

The new Portland WNBA team is not yet named. The Bhathals said they wanted to tap into the community to select one.

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