Portland WNBA Team Will Be Fire, Bigger Choices Loom

The Portland Fire is officially back. 

After a disjointed few weeks marked by the departure of the franchise’s first employee and the early release of the team’s name, the WNBA’s 15th franchise is taking its first step forward by taking one back.

Tuesday, the team will unveil its name—the Fire—logo, and brand identity at a launch party for fans at the Moda Center, their home arena beginning in 2026. 

“It’s the Portland Fire reborn,” interim president Clare Hamill said. 

The original Portland Fire played three seasons in the WNBA beginning in 2000. The team folded in 2002 having never made the playoffs. Some fans have been critical of the decision to bring back the original name because of wildfires that have ravaged the Pacific Northwest. 

Hamill was tapped as interim president following the departure of Inky Son, the team’s first employee, after less than three months on the job. Becoming the Fire’s president was not a position Hamill had been preparing for, but she enters the role with nearly five decades of experience in women’s sports and the Portland market. 

Hamill spent over 40 years at Nike, including as the VP of Nike’s women’s business before retiring last year.

“I had an incredible opportunity to have a front row seat to women’s sports,” Hamill said. “Things like in 1995 working with Sheryl [Swoopes] on her first signature shoe. Fast forward to today having a chance to work in the WNBA in Portland; the momentum these last five years though is unbelievably great.” 

Hamill doesn’t have an end date in mind for her tenure as Fire president. She said she’ll remain in the position for as long as she is wanted by the franchise. While there’s been some speculation about whether the Fire will be ready for their inaugural season in 2026, Hamill affirmed that the team will debut next season alongside the Toronto Tempo as planned.

Beyond the team’s brand launch, the franchise will have a number of key decisions to make in a short window of time. Based on the expansion draft for the WNBA’s 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, the draft for the Fire and the Tempo will be in December,. This gives the Fire less than six months to prepare—assuming the WNBA and the players union agree upon a new CBA ahead of the October 31 deadline—and they are currently without a coach or general manager. 

The Tempo have not hired a coach, but have filled out their front office, hiring general manager Monica Wright, assistant GM Eli Horowitz, and president Teresa Resch. The team has already begun actively scouting for the upcoming expansion draft. 

“With the same intentionality that we’ve had around the brand and logo, that’s the same intentionality that’s going into hiring,” Hamill said. “We feel good about that and I think fans will too.” 

The franchise was closing in on 11,000 season ticket sale deposits ahead of the brand launch. Based on the $26 deposit required to secure access to season tickets when they officially become available, that’s already over $250,000 that the Fire has brought in. Hamill expects to see a spike in those deposit numbers coming out of the event.  

The Fire also secured three sponsors—First Step Credit Union, Alaska Airlines and Brand Live—prior to the official name announcement. (The franchise declined to share financial terms.) 

The WNBA officially named Portland as the league’s 15th franchise last September, with Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal serving as owners through their sports investment firm RAJ Sports. They also own the Portland Thorns and a stake in the Sacramento Kings. 

A joint practice facility is currently being built for the Fire and the Portland Thorns, also owned and operated by the Bhathal family, and will end up costing $150 million once all phases of its development are complete. A spokesperson for the team said the facility will be completed in phases, with the first phases set to be ready for use by the start of the 2026 NWSL season.