{"id":13885,"date":"2025-07-16T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T09:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/13885\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:56:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T09:56:03","slug":"portland-fire-wnba-expansion-team-unveils-name-logo-for-2026-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/13885\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Fire: WNBA expansion team unveils name, logo for 2026 debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

As if reborn from the ashes, the Portland Fire<\/a> are back.<\/p>\n

Portland\u2019s forthcoming WNBA expansion team, set to begin play in summer 2026, unveiled its name and logo Tuesday morning. The Fire will call the Moda Center home with new branding under the ownership of RAJ Sports \u2014 the same group<\/a> led by Lisa Bhathal Merage which purchased the Portland Thorns<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

Fire was Portland\u2019s name during its previous WNBA run from 2000-02.<\/p>\n

The Fire logo features a rose engulfed in red flames with accents and includes the shape of the Moda Center. Several other brand logos pay homage to the shape of Portland\u2019s bridges along with Mt. Hood.<\/p>\n

\"PortlandThe Portland WNBA team unveiled its name, the Portland Fire, along with logos and adjoining branding on Tuesday.Portland Fire<\/p>\n

The color palette will be \u201cFire Red,\u201d brown, blue, and pink, according to the team\u2019s press release. Uniform designs will be released at a later date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat rose icon represents the fire that burns in the passion of this city,\u201d Portland Fire interim president<\/a> Clare Hamill told The Oregonian\/OregonLive. \u201cIt is a clear nod to the Rose City, and all the beauty and strength that comes with that. The petals begin as flames and reach high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\"Portland<\/p>\n

1\/19<\/p>\n

Portland Fire launch party<\/p>\n

At the groundbreaking for the Thorns\u2019 and Fire\u2019s joint training facility<\/a> in Hillsboro in April, Bhathal Merage said the team hit several roadblocks<\/a> in choosing a name for the WNBA franchise. It faced difficulty with intellectual property and trademarks and was repeatedly told no by the league, she said.<\/p>\n

The team ended up choosing Fire and said it consulted the community throughout the process, whether on social media or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019ve landed in exactly the right place for Portland and for the fans,\u201d Hamill said. \u201cThere was social outreach, and local communities like the Sports Bra sent their own questionnaire out. They had a lot of input and a lot of ideas. Every single Oregonian and Portlander, including myself, had an opinion about what the name should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully when everybody sees the brand and the different dimensions that go into the storytelling, they will feel just as good about it as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Why Portland\u2019s new WNBA team has more riding on its success than just basketball<\/a><\/p>\n

There has been backlash from some fans online over the possibility of the Fire returning as the team\u2019s name. The franchise believes the name is representative of Portland\u2019s sports culture and collective spirit, and did not express concern about fans conflating it with the wildfires raging yearly in Oregon or stereotypes about Portland perpetuated by the national media.<\/p>\n

The Fire are approaching 11,000 season ticket deposits, on pace to surpass the WNBA record according to the team\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

The branding was designed by the local creative agency Adopt \u2014 co-founded by David Creech, a former Nike vice president who led design for Jordan Brand, among other creative endeavors. Creech crossed paths with Hamill repeatedly at Nike in Hamill\u2019s more than four decades working in executive and leadership roles for the sportswear giant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about branding a team and a franchise for a city, you\u2019re thinking about what everybody looks to Portland for. What is Portland?\u201d Hamill said. \u201cI think what is powerful about the name and the branding is how much it speaks to the unity in Portland, which we speak to with the bridges. There is a fierce individuality in Portland, and there is a collective pride. … This logo taps into the strengths and the fire you get with things around sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the 2025 WNBA season approaching the All-Star break, The Fire have yet to hire a general manager. Hamill currently serves in the president role on an interim basis after the firing of initial team president Inky Son<\/a>. The Portland team name announcement came months after the Toronto Tempo revealed its name and branding.<\/p>\n

That announcement was seen and heard first by East Coast viewers of Good Morning America on ABC, with local station KATU reporting from outside The Sports Bra, Portland\u2019s iconic women\u2019s sports bar, at 5:50 a.m. Tuesday morning. Cheers could be heard from inside the building, but local viewers couldn\u2019t see the celebration live.<\/p>\n

The Fire are forging ahead and focused on the future, Hamill said. Next summer will be here before Portland basketball fans know it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a narrative out there that we aren\u2019t very far along, or that we\u2019re behind, which is completely not true,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do need to pick up the pace on some things, and we are, but everybody is going to be blown away when they see how much progress has been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Ryan Clarke<\/a> covers the Oregon State Beavers for The Oregonian\/OregonLive. Reach him at RClarke@Oregonian.com or on Twitter\/X: @RyanTClarke<\/a>. Find him on Bluesky: @ryantclarke.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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