Lisa Bhathal Merage is listed as controlling owner of the Portland Fire (Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal), per League release.
Ownership timeline
| Date | Event | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 18, 2024 | Expansion admission fee announced | — → RAJ Sports (Bhathal family). $75M (disputed: $75M fee (CNBC, Sportico) vs $125M (AP)). | League release |
| September 18, 2024 | Price on record | $75M: disputed: $75M fee (CNBC, Sportico) vs $125M (AP). expansion fee vs total commitment unresolved | AP report |
| September 18, 2024 | Ownership role on record | principal; stake not disclosed. | League release |
| May 4, 2026 | CNBC valuation estimate | $380M (publisher estimate, not a price) | CNBC report |
| August 22, 2026 | Facility opened | Kaiser Permanente Performance Center | OPB report |
New from FCB: 5 dated, sourced events compiled from FCB's ledger into one timeline. Permalink: https://fullcourtbuckets.com/wnba/owners/lisa-bhathal-merage/#timeline
Stake and roles compared
Stake: not disclosed. No investor at any of the 15 active teams has a disclosed stake in FCB's register. Team governor: not yet sourced (1 of 15 governors sourced). NBA relationship: None identified.
Documented entities
- RAJ Sports Management, LLC: owner-affiliated management entity (OREGON state registry record 239032899 (open-data API; see CSV))
A registry or filing entry is not by itself proof of ownership or control.
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/wnba-expansion-portland-648427abbfd42dbad0ecdcdf66330f15 · archive.org lookup
- https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/11-portland-fire.html · archive.org lookup
- https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/22/training-facility-for-two-major-oregon-womens-sports-teams-opens-in-hillsboro/ · archive.org lookup
- https://www.wnba.com/news/portland-15th-franchise-announcement · archive.org lookup
Full dataset, methods and corrections: WNBA team owners 2026. Corrections: ryan@fullcourtbuckets.com. License: FCB data and text are free to use and republish (CC0); photos and linked documents keep their own licenses.
How this story was made: Full Court Buckets articles are written by Ryan Moalemi, sometimes with AI assistance, and every stat is checked against official WNBA box scores and the sources cited in the story. How we make Full Court Buckets