The commissioner of the WNBA is set to visit Portland next week on the invitation of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden as the league weighs possible expansion.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will join high-level basketball stakeholders, including Trail Blazers executives and college coaches, in Northeast Portland at The Sports Bra – a bar dedicated to women’s sports.
The commissioner has said the women's league holds the Portland market in high regard, but do those stakeholders feel the same way about the WNBA?
KATU’s Evan Schreiber sat down with Sen. Wyden to ask the big questions before the big meeting.
"It just seems to me that the time is ripe,” Wyden said.
He points to success on the soccer pitch where, despite several major scandals, the Portland Thorns have been a premiere women's soccer franchise.
The Oregon Ducks women and Oregon State Beavers women are perennial conference and national contenders.
"Women's sports have become a major strength for our state," Wyden said.
WNBA expansion didn't happen last year, despite the report from The Athletic that commissioner Engelbert set a year-end timeline to name a new expansion team. It would be the first new franchise since 2008.
“I'll tell you, as Oregon's senior senator, I'm gonna make this happen. I am not gonna say, you know, on such and such a date we're gonna make this happen. We have all the strengths,” said Wyden.
The weakness might lie in a current court battle. They'll need some support from their men’s counterparts, the Portland Trail Blazers who already play at the city's biggest basketball arena - the Moda Center.
Our news partners at Willamette Week reported last year, the Blazers’ ownership group is currently under contract with the city to manage both Moda Center and the Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum next door.
KATU asked whether the team would make room at Moda Center.
The organization wouldn't answer specifics, but in a statement said it would welcome a new WNBA franchise to the Portland market.
“As an organization, we support anyone whose mission is to grow basketball in our region. We would welcome the introduction of a WNBA franchise to the market and would work together to expand the reach of our great game. Oregon has a great track record of embracing and promoting women’s sports in an authentic and meaningful way – which will continue with our hosting of the 2030 Women’s Final Four – and it is no surprise to us that there may interest in bringing a WNBA team to the market. With the Rose Quarter serving as the state’s largest gathering place, we would work with WNBA leadership to identify the best home venue for the team.”
“I'm not gonna get into the business of what's coming up in terms of the contract. I've talked with all of all of the parties. I think that we are going to have the venue addressed,” said Wyden.
While it's all being worked out, we still want to know why now, especially considering the countless crises and problems plaguing Portland and the state.
“Oregonians ought to feel it's a priority, because they'll see it in the streets with a number of people jogging and playing sports outdoors. And if they talk to their kids or their family, they'll say - as they saw with the Thorns - this is something that brings the community together,” said Wyden.
It's the hope that the fans would outweigh the flaws.
Portland had a WNBA franchise before, when the Portland Fire used to play in the Rose Garden Arena.
The team started in the year 2000 Before folding in 2002, after just three seasons. They never made the playoffsand they also couldn't find an owner to buy the team and keep the franchise afloat.
Statement from Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on supporting the WNBA franchise:
“Between our city’s innate love of basketball, and our ardent support of women’s sports, this feels like a natural fit for our community.”