The WNBA’s Portland Fire has no players on its roster, and no idea when they’ll have those players.

But on Wednesday, along with the rest of the league, the Fire released its 2026 schedule, starting May 9 at the Moda Center.

The Fire’s announcement was expected — the WNBA put out the schedule for the league’s 30th regular season just minutes before individual teams released their schedules.

However, Portland and the other expansion team starting play this season, the Toronto Tempo, are in a different position than the WNBA’s 13 existing teams: They have no players.

Optimistic Portland Fire fans can still put 22 home games on their calendars. Former University of Oregon standout Sabrina Ionescu will likely make her return to the Rose City when the New York Liberty play Portland during the first week of the season on May 12 and 14. On May 30 and again on July 31, the Fire will host phenomenon Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

Last season’s WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, are scheduled to play the Fire at the Moda Center on June 11 and July 9.

In the months between now and then, though, there are some tough shots the WNBA needs to make.

Stalled contract negotiations between WNBA leadership and the players’ union, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), have effectively delayed the expansion draft for Portland and Toronto.

“The current Collective Bargaining Agreement has expired, and negotiations with the Women’s National Basketball Players Association remain ongoing,” WNBA officials said in a statement on Jan. 9. “As the league experiences a pivotal time of unprecedented popularity and growth, we recognize the importance of building upon that momentum.”

WNBA fans across the region celebrate return of Portland Fire

While both the union and league have proposed significantly raising salaries, the biggest sticking point is how the league will share its rapidly increasing revenue with the players.

“Despite demonstrating our willingness to compromise in order to get a deal done,” the players’ union said in a statement, “the WNBA and its teams have failed to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness.”

The sides have temporarily agreed to operate under the expired contract. That agreement could possibly work for the existing teams, but it poses big problems for the new teams.

New teams have two main ways to fill their locker rooms with players.

One is the expansion draft, which allows new teams to select players who have not been protected from selection by an existing franchise. That process cannot take place until a new contract is in place.

The other way to add players is through free agency, which allows players who are not under contract to entertain offers from other teams. Technically, that process can still take place. But players likely won’t sign with a new team under existing contract rules, when a new, better contract might be around the corner.

It will be a tall order for Portland and Toronto to put together a roster of 12 players in less than four months. The most recent expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, held its expansion draft five months before it tipped off for the 2025 season.

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As the Portland Fire wait to learn when an expansion draft could take place, the team has put together a coaching and front office staff. Last August the team tapped Vanja Černivec as general manager. Černivec served as vice president of basketball operations for the Valkyries before coming to Portland.

In October the Fire named Alex Sarama, current assistant coach for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, as head coach. Following the announcement of Sarama, the team hired a slate of assistant coaches. They include Sylvia Fowles, who played center for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx and has experience winning two WNBA championships and a pair of Olympic Gold Medals.

The league may not be ready, but Portland fans are.

The Portland Fire have already secured more than 15,000 season tickets ahead of the season’s intended start in May. It is possible that the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement could delay the start of the season, or lead to a work stoppage — but it would be the first time in the league’s three decades.

The Fire are re-joining the league at a time when women’s basketball is surging in popularity. The WNBA has continually broken attendance and viewership records, only to break them again the following season. In 2025, TV viewership went up more than 20% from the 2024 season.

Portland is also cementing itself as a hub for women’s sports. Portland’s professional women’s soccer team, the Thorns, is often at the top for attendance in the National Women’s Soccer League. It’s one of the reasons the owners of the Thorns, siblings Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, decided to bid for a WNBA team in the city.

In September 2024, the Bhathal siblings announced professional women’s basketball would return to the Rose City in the form of the WNBA’s 15th team. The original Portland Fire played in the city from 2000-2002 before folding during a time of contraction for the league.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/22/portland-fire-first-contract-negotiation/