Evanson: Welcome to the WNBA era in Portland, one built on a foundation of hope

It’s been 22 years since Portland last had a WNBA team, so what’s another two?

The WNBA announced Tuesday that Portland would be the landing spot for the women’s basketball league’s 15th franchise, beginning play in 2026.

The announcement comes nearly five months removed from the league bringing Toronto into the fold, 11 months since San Francisco spawned the new Golden State Valkyries, and nearly a year after WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert wrote in a letter that Portland’s endeavor to join the club was being “deferred.”

What changed? Ownership, for one.

Kirk Brown, the millionaire co-founder of the company that became ZoomInfo, was behind the original effort to bring a team to Portland, but Brown’s increasingly icy relationship with the league was reported to have led to his withdrawal from consideration, and ultimately led to the league citing complications tied to the impending Moda Center renovation as the source of the deferment.

Now, with Brown gone and the league back, it’s out with the old and in with the new as Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal are said to be paying $125 million for the franchise.

The brother-and-sister duo whose RAJ Sports purchased the NWSL’s Portland Thorns less than a year ago, couldn’t be more excited to be bringing a WNBA team, in addition to creating a community built on a foundation of women’s sports to the Rose City.

“A year ago, we were just getting going in Portland and now we're firmly rooted with two feet firmly planted in the city of Portland,” Alex Bhathal said. “Our vision for this team is clear: We want to create a space where excellence, community, inclusivity, diversity and equity come together. We’re not just building a team, we’re creating a movement.”

What didn’t change was the energy behind the city and state’s effort to get a team.

Since the Fire were extinguished more than two decades ago, people behind the endeavor to reignite a WNBA franchise in Portland have been steadfast. And since long before that, a greater endeavor to promote women’s athletics had been moving at a snail’s pace.

But in recent years, those endeavoring on both fronts have upped the ante, and Wednesday’s announcement was a direct result and further proof that both have and continue to pay dividends — and large ones.

The enthusiasm at Wednesday’s press conference was palpable, led by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden who — quite loudly at times — led the cheers for what he expects to be a tangible asset to the city economically.

“I’m not a gambler, but I know it’s a sure bet that Portland is going to be a slam-dunk success in the WNBA,” Wyden said. “This is going to be a huge economic shot in the arm for the entire region. Thousands of fans booking hotel rooms, visiting restaurants, bars pre and post-game. We’re going to be the gold standard.”

If that sounds like a pretty high bar, you’re not wrong. But it feels feasible based on the recent track record of success of women’s sports across the state.

Both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University’s women’s basketball teams have been and continue to be successful by any metric at the NCAA level, including both having played in the Final Four.

The University of Portland women’s soccer team has two national championships, and from 2002 through 2011 boasted the country’s top average attendance amongst Division-I soccer programs.

The LPGA’s Portland Classic is the women’s golf tour’s longest running event, and it’s success led directly to the area hosting both the 1997 and 2003 U.S. Women’s Open.

Oh, and lest we forget RAJ Sports' prior purchase, the Portland Thorns, who average more than 18,000 fans per game and over their first eight seasons led the NWSL in attendance, including in 2019 when the team became the first in league history to average more than 20,000 per match.

Those aren’t your granddad or dad’s metrics tied to women’s games, but rather you and I’s, and just the beginning of what things will look like for your kids as the popularity of women’s sports continue to grow.

I’m old enough to remember the jokes that historically hung heavily over female athletics.

I also recall times when there was no NWSL or WNBA.

Now, with help from the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, players like Sabrina Ionescu and more prominently Caitlin Clark, and television networks that have more favorably embraced the women’s soccer, basketball and softball products nationally; the jokes are diminishing; the leagues are not just surviving, but thriving; and what was formerly an afterthought has become what cities like Portland are enthusiastically hitching their wagons to in an effort to champion not just their teams, but the cities in which they reside.

Portland’s WNBA team has yet to be named. Some have suggested they revert to the original team’s “Fire,” others have proposed names like “Royalty,” “Spirit,” “Mountaineers,” along with a bevy of options bordering on farcical.

But might I halfheartedly recommend “Hope?”

Not because it rhymes — because it doesn’t; rolls off the tongue — because that might be a stretch; or because it even tangentially links to the game of basketball — because it doesn’t do that either; but because of what the name provides to the team, represents to the city it will inhabit, and has done for the endeavor to further women’s sport, which has taken a lot longer than 22 years.

Maybe that’s cheesy, but it’s also genuine — a little like Senator Wyden Tuesday afternoon.