Portland ranked No. 4 for women's sports
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Portland is one of the best places to play, or root, for women's sports. Photos: Amanda Loman/Getty Images, Ali Gradischer/Getty Images, Alika Jenner/NWSL via Getty Images
Portland was recently ranked the fourth best city in the country for women's sports by The Athletic.
Why it matters: The Rose City has cemented its place in the national pantheon with a long-established culture and some recent additions that make Portland one of the premier destinations for athletes and fans.
State of play: The ranking, compiled and voted on by writers at The Athletic, was based in part on "vibes," along with other more quantifiable categories.
- The number of professional teams, the strength of college programs, the popularity of team merch and whether a locale has a sports bar dedicated to women's teams all played a role.
- Portland is killing it in most of those categories.
Zoom in: Founded in 2012, the same year as the National Women's Soccer League, the Thorns have notched three championships, the most of any team, and consistently lead the league in attendance.
- "When it's a Thorns game day, you know it if you're in downtown Portland," the staff of The Athletic wrote.
On the basketball court, the Portland Fire are set to tip off their inaugural season next year and have already had some big acquisitions.
- Former NBA assistant coach Alex Sarama signed on as head coach and Brittni Donaldson, previously the director of basketball development for the Atlanta Hawks, was recently hired as an assistant coach.
- The team has already seen more than 15,000 fans put down deposits for season tickets.
Plus: A new, 63,000-square-foot women's training facility for the Thorns and Fire is set to open in Hillsboro early next year.
For the fans, the preeminent women's sports bar in the country, The Sports Bra, got its start in Portland just a few years ago.
- It's been wildly successful, with new outposts either planned or open in at least four cities.
Zoom out: Portland lands under some heavy hitters at the top of the list.
- The Bay Area — where the WNBA's Valkyries and the NWSL's Bay FC have each set attendance records — took the top spot.
- Minneapolis/St. Paul was ranked No. 2, and our neighbors to the north, Seattle, came in third, which had our Axios Seattle friends in their feelings a bit.
The bottom line: While "vibes" are hard to define by design, Portland's women's sports landscape has them, per The Athletic.
- "One of the main themes was community," they wrote. "Portland was the city to which most voters pointed to illustrate this idea."