Basketball: a Portland-based franchise owned by RAJ Sports to be integrated into the WNBA from 2026

Portland (Oregon, USA) will become the 15^th franchise to join the WNBA from the 2026 season, announced the North American governing body on 18/09/2024. The franchise will play at the Moda Center (19,980 capacity) in Portland, home of the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA). The team name and logo will be unveiled at a later date.

This move follows those of the Golden State Valkyries (San Francisco, California), who will play in the WNBA from 2025, and Toronto (Canada, from 2026), as part of the WNBA's expansion plan, which currently has 12 franchises and aims to increase the total number of teams to 16 by 2028. The city of Portland already had a WNBA franchise with the Portland Fire for three seasons (from 2000 to 2002), a club then owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft (IT).

RAJ Sports, an American investment fund run by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal and owner of the future Portland team, is said to have paid an entry fee of $125m (€112.3m) to join the North American League, a record in the WNBA, according to American media.

RAJ Sports acquired the Portland Thorns…