Three pieces of news have hit the internet waves in the last 24 hours, two about the Fire, one about the league, all worth sharing. Let’s dig in:

After months of trading proposals back and forth, and after many weeks of the league itself not responding, the two sides are moving towards each other – slowly – and talking frequently. But yesterday, league sources told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou that a new deal would need to be completed by March 10th in order to not alter the 2026 season.

That is two weeks from today.

Given the speed and rate of contact between the two sides, and the relative staunchness each has shown in not giving into the other, two weeks to complete a deal sounds farfetched. The league needs to two a two-team expansion draft, a free agency period for a league where 80% of the players need new contracts, they need to hold a draft, conduct training camp, play some pre-season games, and then finally play a regular season.

Additionally, terms and contracts have to be ratified after they are initially agreed upon, which could take many more days after an initial deal is struck.

It’s worth noting that this news is a WNBA source, a league-side source, giving this information. This is the league telling the players that their season could be affected if they don’t sign a deal. Does the league think that this information will pressure the players into ceding ground in their negotiating? Does the league think they have the leverage if there’s a shortened season? We will likely never know, but I don’t think the players are going to give-in on their ultimate demands just because some games might be canceled.

The Fire have hired Ben Pickman – a former The Athletic and Sports Illustrated writer – to join their front office team. Pickman was one of the lead reporters covering the WNBA for the last three years at The Athletic, and even wrote/talked about what the Fire could/should do in their inaugural season.

Other teams have hired writers/analysts in the past, but Pickman, who was working at the Athletic as recently as January 15th, still feels like a surprising selection.

The Portland Fire, as well as the Portland Thorns, have partnered with Fox 12 Plus to exclusively broadcast all of their available games this season, and through 2028.

Games will be available to watch free over-the-air for those watching in the Portland area.

They also announced a partnership with Kiswe, a direct-to-consumer streaming company, to develop streaming content for both teams:

“The new partnership also includes original studio programming focused on both teams, community initiatives, and athlete storytelling, including coverage highlighting the upcoming Kaiser Permanente Performance Center – a first-of-its-kind, dual-purpose professional soccer and basketball complex from RAJ Sports.”

In the link below is a conversation between KPTV and Fire GM Vanja Černivec about this partnership, about building the upcoming team, and more.

That’s it for today. I hope I’ll write to you again in two weeks (or less).