Portland went back to its roots when choosing the official team name and branding for its WNBA expansion franchise set to debut in 2026.
The franchise officially announced Tuesday it will be dubbed the "Fire," an homage to the former WNBA team that was short-lived in Portland from 2000 to '02.
Portland also unveiled the new logos associated with the Fire. The team is incorporating Portland's "Rose City" nickname into the primary logo as the image features a rose on fire. According to the press release, the team's colors are fire red, brown, blue and pink.
It's a different logo and color scheme from the original Portland Fire team from the early 2000s. The old logo showed a basketball on fire, featuring red, yellow and black colors.
There was speculation if "Fire" would be the new team name after the city's social account posted a teaser on Monday with the caption "Our fire never died" featuring a photo from those original Portland seasons. The franchise also filed a trademark for the "Portland Fire" nickname and a "P" logo a few weeks ago.
The Fire will kick off their inaugural season in 2026 at Moda Center in Portland. They are one of three teams to join the WNBA in a two-year span along with the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 and the Toronto Tempo in '26. Franchises in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia will join the league by 2030 to expand the WNBA to 18 teams.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Portland WNBA Expansion Franchise Reveals Team Name, Logo.
