Jun 30, 2025 - Sports
Readers react to potential Portland WNBA team name
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The vast majority of Portlanders who responded to our poll last week think the calling our WNBA team the Portland Fire falls short.
Driving the news: We asked Axios Portland readers to weigh in on the news that the city's WNBA team appears to be running back the name of the defunct squad that played here in the early 2000s.
Zoom in: Of the nearly 200 people who responded to our very scientific poll, a combined 79% think the team could do better or flat out hate the old name.
- 18% are good with it, and 3% of you don't seem to care one way or another.
💬 What you're saying: We asked what you would call the team and got some great suggestions.
- The Portland River: "Relentless, powerful, constant, shifting, always running," Matt C. wrote.
- The Portland Swifts (Axios Portland's personal favorite): "Honoring our local birds, bball players are swift if they're good," Clare M. said.
- The Portland Pests, in a nod to Beverly Cleary's Ramona series: "It's fun, a bit snotty and you could use any sort of insect for the symbol," wrote Tim Halbur, who suffered a major loss from wildfires and believes the Fire name isn't quite right.
The bottom line: "I'm a big WNBA fan and I'll go regardless," Halbur added.