With the start of the WNBA season on May 8, 10 metro area markets in the United States now have as many or more women’s professional teams as men’s.
That latest count is because the Portland Fire are an expansion team this year in the WNBA, which brings the Oregon city to two women’s teams (Fire plus NWSL’s Thorns) and two men’s (NBA’s Trail Blazers and MLS’ Timbers).
The comparison is strictly based on sports where professional women’s leagues exist on a national scale: basketball, soccer and hockey, while excluding football and baseball.
One of Portland’s Pacific Northwest neighbors, Seattle, is also on the list. In fact, Seattle has more women’s teams than men’s in those sports: the Storm in the WNBA, Reign FC in the NWSL and the Torrent in the PWHL. On the men’s side, Seattle is represented by the Sounders in the MLS and the Kraken in the NHL.
Other markets on the list all have one women’s team and one (or zero) men’s team. Those markets are Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Raleigh, Louisville, and Connecticut.
How far away are women’s pro sports from total parity? Per a USA TODAY analysis, 10 of the 41 (24.4%) U.S. markets in basketball, soccer and hockey currently have equal or more women’s teams.
The women’s leagues are continuing to grow, too. Both the WNBA and the PWHL will be expanding to Detroit — moves that will bring the Motor City to parity in its men’s and women’s teams. The WNBA will also expand to Cleveland, bringing the tally there to one and one.
Next, the NWSL is slated to come to Atlanta, bringing that city to parity across its men’s and women’s teams.
And the PWHL is rumored to be putting a team in San Jose and Las Vegas. Should the league move to California, it’ll up the Bay Area to three men’s and three women’s teams. As for Las Vegas, it’ll bump that market into the “women lead” category: A PWHL team would bring the tally there to two women’s teams (PWHL and the WNBA’s Aces) and one men’s (NHL’s Golden Knights).
Other expansions include Columbus (NWSL) and Philadelphia (WNBA), although both markets currently have multiple men’s teams and zero women’s.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA are expected to move to Houston after this season, pending league approval. While that would knock Connecticut off this list, Houston would join — the city currently has the Rockets (NBA), the Dynamo (MLS) and the Dash (NWSL), meaning another WNBA team there would bring the count to two apiece.
Methodology note: League websites were used to tally U.S.-based teams in the NBA, WNBA, MLS, NWSL, NHL and PWHL. Teams were then assigned market names to generate the final list.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: These 10 U.S. markets now have as many women’s pro teams as men’s
