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Ten metro areas in the U.S. now have equal or more women's professional sports teams than men's, thanks to the WNBA's Portland Fire expansion. Cities like Seattle lead with more women's teams in basketball, soccer, and hockey.
With the start of the WNBA season on May 8, 10 metro area markets in the United States now have as many or more womenâs professional teams as menâs.
That latest count is because the Portland Fire are an expansion team this year in the WNBA, which brings the Oregon city to two womenâs teams (Fire plus NWSLâs Thorns) and two menâs (NBAâs Trail Blazers and MLSâ Timbers).
The comparison is strictly based on sports where professional womenâs leagues exist on a national scale: basketball, soccer and hockey, while excluding football and baseball.
One of Portlandâs Pacific Northwest neighbors, Seattle, is also on the list. In fact, Seattle has more womenâs teams than menâs in those sports: the Storm in the WNBA, Reign FC in the NWSL and the Torrent in the PWHL. On the menâs side, Seattle is represented by the Sounders in the MLS and the Kraken in the NHL.
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Other markets on the list all have one womenâs team and one (or zero) menâs team. Those markets are Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Raleigh, Louisville, and Connecticut.
How far away are womenâs 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 womenâs teams.
The womenâs leagues are continuing to grow, too. Both the WNBA and the PWHL will be expanding to Detroit â moves that will bring the Motor City to parity in its menâs and womenâs 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 menâs and womenâs teams.
Ten metro areas in the U.S. have equal or more women's professional teams than men's, including Portland and Seattle.
The comparison includes women's leagues in basketball (WNBA), soccer (NWSL), and hockey (PWHL), excluding football and baseball.
Seattle has three women's teams (Storm, Reign FC, Torrent) compared to two men's teams (Sounders, Kraken).

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And the PWHL is rumored to be putting a team in San Jose and Las Vegas. Should the league move to California, itâll up the Bay Area to three menâs and three womenâs 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 menâs teams and zero womenâs.
Finally, itâs 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 â 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 womenâs pro teams as menâs