WNBA Files Trademarks for 'Portland Fire'
The league appears to be taking steps towards reviving the name of Portland's previous WNBA team.
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Portland’s yet-to-launch WNBA expansion team will officially announce its new name later this summer, but indications are that it will be a familiar choice.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office's online database, the WNBA league office filed four new trademark applications this week related to the Portland Fire, which was name of Portland's WNBA team that played for three seasons from 2000 to 2002 before folding.
One of the newly filed trademarks seeks to use the Portland Fire name for "clothing, footwear and headwear"; the other is for "education, providing of training, entertainment, sporting and cultural activities, entertainment and educational services in the nature of ongoing television and radio programs in the field of basketball and rendering live basketball games and basketball exhibitions."
A second set of two trademarks, filed in each of those two categories, is for a stylized letter "P."
The WNBA did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that the name of the new team will be Portland Fire, but multiple sources with knowledge of the process have indicated in recent months that a return to the Fire is indeed coming.
Portland is one of three expansion cities the WNBA has announced in the last 18 months, along with the Bay Area and Toronto. The Golden State Valkyries are currently playing their first season, and the Toronto Tempo will debut next year along with the Portland team that will be owned by RAJ Sports, the parent company of the Bhathal family that also owns the NWSL's Portland Thorns and a minority stake in the Sacramento Kings.
The announcement of a team in Portland last September marked the first time in the WNBA’s history that it is returning to a city where they previously had a team, and it won’t be the last. In February, Sports Business Journal reported that the league’s 16th franchise will be in Cleveland and will debut in 2028. The Cleveland Rockers were one of the WNBA’s original franchises during the league’s inaugural season in 1997, and folded after the 2003 season. The SBJ report indicated that the new Cleveland team, which will be owned by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, will revive the Rockers name. Gilbert reportedly paid a $250 million expansion fee for the team, double what the Bhathals paid for their Portland team last fall.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said last year that she wanted to grow the league to 16 teams by 2028; the skyrocketing franchise values could lead to even more teams coming in before the end of the decade.
The forthcoming announcement of a name will be the latest step in the progression of the new Portland team from idea to reality. Earlier this year, they hired Inky Son as team president, and broke ground in April on a new practice facility that will be shared with the Thorns. At that groundbreaking event, Lisa Bhathal Merage said the team had begun its search for a general manager and hoped to have someone in place in the coming months.
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