Sports in Portland, Oregon


, United States, is home to three major league sports teams — the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer, and the Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League. The city also hosts a wide variety of other sports and sporting events.

Current notable teams

Basketball

The Portland Trail Blazers have played in the National Basketball Association since the 1970 season. The Trail Blazers have played in three NBA Finals and have won one NBA Championship. Several of the Trail Blazers' former players are in the Basketball Hall of Fame, including Dražen Petrović, Bill Walton, Lenny Wilkens, Clyde Drexler, and Arvydas Sabonis. Furthermore, the team has retired several numbers including Terry Porter, Maurice Lucas, Larry Steele.
The Portland Chinooks played in the International Basketball League at The Courts in Eastmoreland.

Hockey

The Western Hockey League's Portland Winterhawks have played in the city since 1976. They split their home games between the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Moda Center. They have won three league championships.

Soccer

The Portland Timbers joined Major League Soccer in 2011 after having past incarnations from 1975–82, 1985–90 and 2001–10. They play at Providence Park, where they average over 20,000 fans and routinely sell out matches. As of November 2013, the Portland Timbers had sold out the last 50 consecutive matches, and over 10,000 fans were on the wait list for season tickets. They won their first MLS Cup in 2015.
The Portland Timbers 2 have been playing in the USL Championship since 2014. Portland Timbers 2 is the reserve squad of the club Portland Timbers. The Portland Timbers 2 formerly played at Merlo Field but now play at Providence Park.
The Portland Timbers U23s have been playing in USL League Two since 2010 and play in Salem, Oregon at McCulloch Stadium.
In 2012, Portland Thorns FC and the National Women's Soccer League were officially formed, with both the team and the league beginning play in 2013. The Thorns won the championship in the inaugural NWSL season and again in 2017, and have led the league in attendance in each of its first seven seasons.

Baseball

Professional baseball was played nearly continuously in Portland from 1901 until 2010, absent only during the 1994 season. The original Portland Beavers were the longest lived team, playing every season from 1901 to 1972, though occasionally under a different name. Various minor league baseball teams played in Portland thereafter, including revived Beavers teams between 1978 and 1993 and again between 2001 and 2010. Since 2010, there has been no professional baseball played within Portland city limits.
Established in 2015 the Portland Pickles are an active team in the GWL. The Pickles play at Walker Stadium located inside Lents Park in SE Portland. Beginning in 2013, the Hillsboro Hops have played at Ron Tonkin Field in the nearby suburb of Hillsboro, about 15 miles west of Portland. A farm team for the Arizona Diamondbacks, they play in the Northwest League, a Class A Short Season minor baseball league.

List of current teams


  • The Portland Timbers U-23s now play in Salem OR at McCulloch Stadium. Began playing there in 2017.

College sports

Portland is home to two NCAA Division I programs: the Portland Pilots, of the University of Portland, and the Portland State Vikings, from Portland State University. Portland State offers football, basketball, women's volleyball, golf, soccer, track and field, tennis, softball, and cross country. The Vikings sponsor football in the FCS level and play their games at Providence Park. Portland State is a member of the Big Sky Conference. The Portland Pilots are members of the non-football West Coast Conference and sponsor baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, and track and field.

Other sports teams

Baseball

The Portland Beavers were a Triple-A baseball team from the Pacific Coast League affiliated with the San Diego Padres. The most recent franchise, which left after the 2010 season to become the Tucson Padres and is now known as the El Paso Chihuahuas, was founded in 2001, though the Beavers name dates to an early Portland baseball team established in 1903.
Baseball teams called the Beavers existed in Portland from 1903–1917 and again from 1919–1972 and 1978–1993, and finally from 2001–2010. In 1973, after the Beavers moved to Spokane, Washington, the Portland Mavericks came to town in the form of an independent Single-A team within the Northwest League. From 1973 to 1977 they played in what was then known as Civic Stadium. The Mavericks were owned by ex-minor league player and television actor Bing Russell. When Russell sold the team back to the Beavers in 1978 it was for $116,000, at the time a record amount for a minor league franchise. The most recent Beavers franchise also played at Civic Stadium. The original Beavers stadium was Vaughn Street Park located in northwest Portland. The Beavers won the Pacific Coast League Pennant the following years: 1906, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1932, 1936, 1945 and 1983. When the Beavers relocated to Salt Lake City in 1993, another Northwest League team, the Portland Rockies, moved in for the 1995 season, playing until 2000. When the Beavers returned for the 2001 season, the Rockies relocated to Pasco, Washington to become the Tri-City Dust Devils. The final version of the Beavers also played in Civic Stadium, renamed PGE Park upon their arrival. After the city announced plans to renovate PGE Park to a soccer-specific stadium for the Timbers, and a proposed park for the Beavers failed to materialize, the team moved to Tucson and then to El Paso.

Football

In 2013, it was announced that the Arena Football League was expanding to Portland and the Portland Thunder was originally owned by Terry Emmert. The Thunder's first game occurred on March 17, 2014, against the San Jose SaberCats at Portland's Moda Center. Prior to the 2016 season, the AFL took over operations of the Thunder while looking for new local ownership. The team then changed its name to the Portland Steel for the 2016 AFL season. The team folded after the 2016 season.
Prior to the Portland Thunder/Steel, Portland had the Arena Football League team the Portland Forest Dragons. In years of 1997, 1998, and 1999, the Forest Dragons compiled records of 2–12, 4–10, and 7–7, never making the playoffs while in Portland. During the 1998 season the team featured receiver Oronde Gadsden, who won the league's Rookie of the Year award, and went on to sign with the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

Other defunct teams

The Portland Pride was established in 1992 as a founding member of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, which began play in 1993. The team played its home games in Portland's Memorial Coliseum. In 1997, the team and the league played its last season. The CISL folded and the Pride ownership moved the team to the Premier Soccer Alliance, where the team played under the name Portland Pythons.