Excitement for the Portland Fire’s inaugural WNBA season ahead of its debut Saturday at the Moda Center is “palpable,” and the team’s chances of success “seem high” as women’s basketball becomes “increasingly mainstream,” according to Eve Peyser of the PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL. The team’s list of corporate backers is “impressive.” It includes Alaska Airlines, First Tech Credit Union, Kaiser Permanente and Toyota, “among other companies.” The roster includes “some innovations specific to the team.” Like other WNBA franchises, the Fire will have two jersey sponsors. The fintech company Chime will have a “patch on the top right corner,” while Lashify, a luxury eyelash extension company, will “appear below each player’s number on the front of their jerseys.” Peyser: “One word to describe how people around the WNBA and the city of Portland are feeling about the Fire? Optimistic. Even the team’s regional rivals can’t wait.” Storm CMO Will Gulley said, “I’m super excited that the Fire are back” (PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/7).
REKINDLING HISTORY: SI’s Emma Baccellieri writes the Fire, which disbanded when the WNBA changed its team ownership structure in 2002, has “revived the history and resurfaced the archives of the original team.” The challenge for any expansion franchise is “building its own identity,” but the twist for the Fire is that it is a “new franchise that is also an old one.” It is the “first of what may be several teams in this situation over the coming years,” with the relocation of the Sun to Houston to revive the Comets next year and upcoming expansion teams in Detroit and Cleveland aiming to connect back to older franchises (SI, 5/8).
NEW DUDS: The Fire unveiled the team’s first WNBA Nike Rebel edition uniform, called “Rose City Built,” paying homage to the city. The base of the black uniform features an all-over tonal rose print. It is the first uniform that highlights the team’s glacier blue (Portland Fire).
