The Portland Fire return after 24 years as WNBA expansion team opens the season

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — After 24 years, the Fire have returned to Portland.

The expansion Portland Fire took the court at the city’s Moda Center, dubbed the “Fire Pit” for the occasion, for the team’s WNBA season opener against the Chicago Sky on Saturday night.

“Yeah, the fire pit was really lit,” guard Sarah Ashlee Barker said with a smile following the game.

The Portland players warmed up wearing T-shirts that said “Legacy Reignited” on the front and “2002 PDX 2026” on the back — paying homage to the original Fire, who played three seasons from 2000-02.

The game was a sellout with an announced attendance of 19,335. Among those in the crowd were Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Sen. Ron Wyden. “Portlandia” star Carrie Brownstein, and Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday and his wife Lauren Holiday, a former player for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.

“This is such a good fit for us, and it’s practically in our DNA,” Wyden said. “We had Phil Knight who started with sneakers. We’ve had terrific players who’ve ended up at colleges all over America. We’re showing that Oregon has lots of good things in sports, and basketball is at the top.”

The Fire fell 98-83 to the Sky, but the crowd was hardly discouraged: The players were rewarded with a standing ovation as they left the court.

“Just the energy that they brought, they never gave up. They always continued to cheer,” Barker said. “I think just leaning into that and having their support means a lot to us.”

Bridget Carleton said she had heard that Portland fans came out for women’s sports. The city is also home to the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League.

“But even this past week, feeling it on social media, feeling it in the city, going on a walk and people recognize me already, and I hadn’t even played a game. It’s just incredible,” Carleton said. “The amount of support, how excited people were to see us and meet us and be a part of this experience, it’s been surreal.”

Former Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who died in 2018, was chairman of the original Fire. The Blazers and the Fire shared the then-Rose Garden.

Among the Fire’s original players were Jackie Stiles, Vanessa Nygaard and Sylvia Crawley. They averaged some 8,000 fans per game.

The NBA owned the WNBA teams until 2002, then sold them to affiliated NBA teams or independent owners. Allen declined to buy the Fire and the team folded.

Portland was awarded a WNBA franchise in September 2024. The team is run by Raj Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who also own the Portland Thorns. They paid $125 million for the Fire.

“This is game-changing for our city, This is cementing the global epicenter of women’s sports. Our fan base is going to show up for these players and they’re going to show what playing for Portland means. This has been a long time coming and I’m just so excited for the city,” said Karina LeBlanc, executive vice president at Raj Sports for strategic growth and development.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball