Portland Fire

The Portland Fire are a 2026 WNBA expansion franchise playing at the Moda Center, owned by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal through RAJ Sports, the same group behind the NWSL's Portland Thorns. Reviving a name last used by an early-2000s Portland franchise, the new Fire opened to a WNBA-record-breaking crowd for a team's first-ever home game, signaling the Pacific Northwest's hunger for top-level women's basketball. The city's soccer-loyal fan culture has translated quickly into a rowdy new basketball following.

This Fire franchise was awarded to Portland on September 18, 2024, and began play in the 2026 season as the league's 15th team, part of the same expansion class as the Toronto Tempo. The name recalls the original Portland Fire, which played from 2000 to 2002, though the current team is a separate, newly built franchise with no shared history or ownership. The Fire have not yet won a championship.