• Loading stock data...
Monday, July 14, 2025

Why the WNBA Pulled Out of Portland

  • The WNBA was reportedly on the cusp of announcing a new team in Portland when it reversed course.
  • The league’s explanation for the sudden change of heart has been questioned.
Oct 5, 2023; San Francisco, CA, USA; WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert makes opening remarks during a press conference to announce an expansion WNBA franchise in the San Francisco Bay Area at Chase Center.
D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Not too long ago, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that the WNBA would bring a team to Portland.

Reporting indicated that an announcement was imminent, and league commissioner Cathy Engelbert had previously called Portland “an ideal destination for a WNBA franchise.”

However, last week, Engelbert abruptly reversed course in a letter to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, citing planned renovations to the Moda Center, where the NBA’s Trail Blazers play and were prepared to share with a WNBA team.

Bill Oram, a sports columnist for the Oregonian, joined the Front Office Sports Today podcast to explain why, based on his reporting, Engelbert’s explanation may be a cover for the real reason that the league changed its plans days before they were set to announce a Portland team.

Listen to the full episode here:

Oram on why Engelbert’s explanation doesn’t fit with other facts:

[Engelbert’s] justification was that renovations the Portland Trail Blazers have planned to the Moda Center and the surrounding complex in consecutive summers later in the decade would displace the WNBA franchise, and that did not work for the WNBA. That came as a shock to a lot of people in the market for a variety of reasons, one being that those renovations had not been a surprise. 

Portland was seen as being on the very edge of making an announcement of having landed a WNBA team. That was seen as imminent. To then have that fall through over something that had been well-established and part of conversations for months, if not years, left a lot of people scratching their heads. 

On an alternate explanation for the WNBA’s reversal:

What I had heard last week and had been chasing down ever since was that the real death knell here was the withdrawal from the project by Kirk Brown. Kirk Brown had been the proposed owner of the team. He was the one putting up the $50 million expansion fee and is a former co-founder of ZoomInfo. So he had been the face of this — not a particularly outspoken advocate, but he was seen as the financial backbone of this proposal. 

Just a few days ago, they were planning on rolling out this team [on Oct. 26]. And it was only a few days before that Kirk Brown pulled out because of differences he had with the WNBA, including branding of the team. The name that he liked was getting significant pushback from the WNBA. He wanted to name it the Rose City Royalty. My understanding is that Cathy Engelbert felt that had a connotation that the WNBA didn’t want to get behind. 

At a certain point, Kirk felt that there were a lot of hoops to jump through and a lot of rules in joining the ranks of WNBA ownership. This is somebody who is an entrepreneur, has been the head of a major company, and maybe he was not totally comfortable with that level of oversight. And so he ended up pulling out really just days before this team was expected to be unveiled.

On whether a new investor could revive efforts to bring a WNBA team to Portland:

There are efforts underway to round up and build a new ownership group. Whether those will be successful, I do not know. Whether Jodi Allen has any interest, that would not track just because she is in the process of divesting assets and is moving toward an eventual sale of the Trail Blazers. But I know that there are people in Portland who are working feverishly to try to get together another ownership group and present that to the WNBA and see. 

On what the WNBA does next:

It’s interesting, because the WNBA has now backed itself into a corner where it says, ‘The reason we’re not doing this is because of renovations to Moda Center.’ Well, that’s not going to change, those renovations are going to happen. And so if that was the disqualifier, how do you walk that back when, you know, a white knight rides in to save the day? 

They were all-in on Portland. … You’ve heard reports out of Toronto that the MLSE group had pulled its bid. It’s similar in Denver — it sounded like that momentum had stalled. I don’t get the sense — and people I’ve spoken to have said this as well — that the WNBA is pivoting to another city.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

NBC Sports
exclusive

NBC Hiring Ex-Hawks Exec Grant Liffmann As NBA Front Office Insider

Liffmann spent the last three years with Atlanta after covering the Warriors.
Aliyah Boston

Aliyah Boston Is Latest WNBA Player to Invest in NWSL Team

Boston joins a select group that includes Sabrina Ionescu.
Alex Rodriguez

Finally in Charge, A-Rod Says Timberwolves Need New Arena

Rodriguez and Lore would like to repair team relations with Kevin Garnett.

Featured Today

May 31, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Sydney McLaughin-Levrone (USA) reacts before the women's 100m hurdles during the Grand Slam Track Philadelphia at Franklin Field
exclusive

Track’s New Money Is Running Into Old Problems

The sport’s big-money era has hit some speed bumps in 2025.
Bobbleheads are seen at Vintage Indy Sports, Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Speedway. The local sports memorabilia store opened recently.
July 12, 2025

Baseball’s Bobbleheads Are the Center of the Collectibles Universe

Baseball’s most important keepsake drives long lines—and big business.
Rimouski, QC - JUNE 1: Final Game of the 2025 Memorial Cup between the Medicine Hats Tigers and the London Knights on June 1, 2025, at the Colisée Financière Sun Life in Rimouski, Qc.
July 11, 2025

CHL Is Facing a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of Questions Amid NCAA Talent Departure

As players defect to college, the Canadian Hockey League won’t cede ground.
Jun 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) bats during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field.
July 9, 2025

The Torpedo Bat Business Is Still Going Strong: ‘Here to Stay’

Demand for the oddly shaped bats has stayed strong across the sport.

MLBPA Chief Says League Missing Chance to Build On Success

Union leaders again call out perceived moves toward a salary cap.
[Subscription Customers Only] Jul 13, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Chelsea FC defender Reece James (24) lifts the trophy as he celebrates with teammates as U.S. president Donald Trump after the final of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium.
July 14, 2025

Four Things We Learned From the $1 Billion Club World Cup

FIFA now turns to U.S. World Cup next summer.
The 153rd Open Championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland
July 14, 2025

Open Championship Considers Ireland: Portrush ‘Will Open’ Gates

Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland is hosting this week’s tournament.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 14, 2025

NFL’s New Headsets Are Designed to Survive Coach Tantrums

New NFL coaching headsets underwent “extensive drop testing.”
July 14, 2025

MLB’s HR Derby’s $1M Prize Tops Salaries for Three Rising Stars

Three derby competitors could more than double their 2025 salary.
July 13, 2025

Nationals Take HS Star Willits No. 1 in MLB Draft, Eye Potential..

Washington shocks observers by selecting a 17-year-old high schooler.
July 13, 2025

Chelsea Wins $110M in FIFA’s Revamped $1B Club World Cup

Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final match.