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Get ready for the Portland Cherry Bombs FC, a new women’s pre-professional soccer team that will kick off its inaugural season in May 2026.
The Cherry Bombs are the newest installment of the local sports entertainment chain that started with the Portland Pickles (West Coast League baseball) and then expanded last year to the Portland Bangers FC (men’s USL League Two soccer). The ownership and management teams are the same for all three clubs.
The Cherry Bombs mascot will be Mary T. Cherry. Cherry has a feminine but edgy aesthetic, an intimidating smirk drawn on with black lipstick.
“We built the Cherry Bombs to embody everything that makes Portland electric: fearless creativity, unapologetic individuality, and the belief that sports can be a canvas for culture,” said Alan Miller, president of COLLiDE, the boutique marketing agency that owns the teams. “This team isn’t just joining the W League, it’s detonating a new era for women’s soccer in the Northwest.”
The team is being marketed as an homage to the 1990s riot grrrl movement and its iconic bands Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. The name is a nod to The Runaways’ 1976 anthem “Cherry Bomb,” while the merch takes inspiration from punk-rock posters with the lettering on the new hats, T-shirts and scarves.
Cherry Bomb’s co-owners are Miller and his business partner, former Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan. Courtney Schmidt will serve as general manager.
The Cherry Bombs will play in the USL W League, a pre-professional women’s soccer league that began in 2022. Other teams in the Northwest Division include soccer clubs in Tacoma, Olympia and West Seattle, Wash. The debut season will run from May to July, at a to-be-announced home venue.
