PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Thorns and Fire staged a unique women’s sports doubleheader Saturday in the first collaboration between the NWSL and WNBA teams.
The Thorns hosted the Utah Royals in a match between the top two teams in the National Women’s Soccer League on Saturday afternoon, before the expansion Fire hosted Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in the evening.
The teams hyped Saturday’s matches, selling a ticket package to both events for $80. T-shirts were sold that exclaimed “Portland Loves Women’s Sports.”
After the Thorns played to a 2-2 draw with the Royals, midfielder Olivia Moultrie was headed straight to the Fire game, where she was hoping to exchange jerseys with Clark. But she ultimately wanted a Fire win, too.
“Obviously, this city and women’s sports, like, that’s a match made in heaven,” Moultrie said. “Honestly, I think it’s just really cool to be able to support our own team now, with the fire, awesome.”
The Fire gave Moultrie her wish with a 100-84 victory.
The Thorns and the Fire share the same owners, Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who operate the teams under the entity Raj Sports.
“Just seeing the support that they show for both of our organizations, it means a lot. I think as just as a woman, you want that support. And just seeing where women’s basketball is going and growing and being able to know that the city’s behind us, it’s really cool,” Fire guard Sarah Ashlee Barker said.
The Thorns, who have played in Portland since 2013 as one of the founding teams of the NWSL, drew 20,053 fans. The Fire announced a sellout crowd of 19,347 at the Moda Center.
The two teams will soon share the nation’s first performance center shared by pair of professional women’s teams in different sports. The $150 million center, a repurposed former Nike facility on 12 acres west of Portland, is set to open Aug. 22.
“I hope in the future that we are always going to feel like we are one city and make sure we have two teams with one organization and one community with that,” Thorns coach Robert Vilahamn said. “So I’m very much looking forward to the collaboration.”
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