Anticipated renovations at Moda Center have emerged as the central obstacle leading to the collapse of Portland's bid for a WNBA expansion team.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden on Wednesday, confirmed that the league's plans for a team in the City of Roses have been “deferred,” despite previous indications that Portland was a frontrunner to become the league's 14th franchise, Bill Oram of The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Engelbert cited the “timing and scope of arena improvements” at Moda Center, the home venue for the NBA's Trail Blazers, as the primary reasons for putting the expansion on hold. The renovations at the arena are “anticipated to take place during consecutive summers,” coinciding with the WNBA's regular season, thus complicating the logistics for housing a new team.

Portland had been in the spotlight as a promising location for a WNBA team, after local entrepreneur Kirk Brown, founder of ZoomInfo, publicly shared his plans last year to pursue an expansion team for the city. However, Brown's current involvement in any efforts to resurrect the discussions remains unclear, as his representative declined to comment.

Engelbert's confirmation brings clarity to months of speculation and anticipation, as Portland had previously been seen as a leading candidate for the WNBA's expansion.

A spokesperson for Sen. Wyden expressed the senator's ongoing commitment to bringing a WNBA team to Portland, stating that the senator is “committed to continue working hard with everybody in Portland who’s teaming up to bring our city and state a WNBA franchise.”

“Portland and all of Oregon have long proven a hotbed for women’s sports, and he has no doubt the WNBA would succeed here in a similar fashion,” Wyden's spokeperson said.

Despite this setback, Portland remains a city with potential for future WNBA expansion, once the questions surrounding Moda Center's renovations are resolved. The WNBA recently announced the addition of a new team in San Francisco, set to begin play in 2025, and has expressed intentions for further expansion in the near future.