Potential WNBA expansion team for Portland shelved for now
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/11/2023 (1047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert says a potential expansion team in Portland has been shelved because of uncertainty about the scope of renovations needed at the Moda Center, where the team would have played.
Englebert’s comments came in a letter to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s office dated Wednesday. Wyden was active in trying to lure a WNBA team to Oregon.
The league had been working with a potential local ownership group, as well as city and state officials, on a team that would play home games at the home of the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers are planning to renovate the facility in advance of the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 2030. It was anticipated the work would be done during the summer months, when the bulk of the WNBA season is played.
Engelbert’s letter said that in light of the renovation “consideration of a WNBA franchise for Portland will be deferred for now until the timing and scope of the arena improvements are settled.”
The decision to scuttle plans for a potential franchise in Portland was first reported Wednesday by The Oregonian.
Portland had a WNBA team from 2000-02 that played its games at the then-Rose Garden before the franchise folded.
The WNBA announced plans last month for an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area to begin play in 2025. Engelbert has said she expects the league to add one more expansion team to also launch in 2025.
The WNBA, which currently has 12 teams, last expanded in 2008 with the addition of the Atlanta Dream.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball