RAJ Sports ownership made the groundbreaking announcement Thursday
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Portland Thorns and future WNBA team to share new facilityWill cost $75 million to build, and will be privately fundedWill be the first training center shared by two women's teams in different sportsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
A state-of-the-art facility and a first-of-its-kind, the Thorns and Portland's future WNBA team are expected to open a joint practice facility by early 2026, owners and operators RAJ Sports announced Thursday.
The 12-acre facility will be a repurposed office complex recently occupied by Nike, and it will cost $75M to build. Completion of the Thorns' portion of the facility, and the shared areas, are expected to be completed in time for training ahead of the 2026 season — while the unnamed WNBA team's section will expect to be completed by the start of their inaugural season in the summer of 2026.
RAJ Sports projects to invest more than $150M into the multi-phase project, with the 63,000-square-foot facility being the first stage of their investment specifically for women athletes.
The ownership behind the project, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage, purchased the NWSL side for an estimated $63M in January 2024 and paid the WNBA $125M for an expansion franchise in September later that year.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE
“When we acquired the Portland Thorns and the Portland WNBA franchise, our family committed to investing into the Thorns, the WNBA franchise, and the Portland metro region,” Merage, Governor of both teams, said in a news release. “Building an innovative training facility that provides the best possible environment for our athletes across professional soccer and professional basketball will be a game changer for women’s sports. Our goal is to create the most inclusive and welcoming environment for our athletes, staff, supporters, fans, partners, and community as we strive to be an elite organization on the field, on the court, and in the community.”
The facility will include a 17,000-square-foot basketball gym featuring two full-size courts, two soccer pitches alongside an outdoor training zone, dedicated dressing rooms featuring a "spa-like setting," with amenities aimed toward female athletes; a full-time chef and nutritionist working within a shared dining room; social media content creation rooms, team meeting rooms and family rooms along with strength facilities, outdoor turf zones, yoga and pilates rooms, and sports science and sports medicine areas.
“It’s an exciting time for our club, and as players we are thrilled to be getting a first-of-its-kind, dedicated women’s performance center,” Thorns forward Sophia Wilson (formerly Smith) said in the news release. “This kind of high-performance training facility allows us to elevate every part of our game, becoming better and more well-rounded athletes. Having a space designed specifically for female athletes gives us yet another leg up on the competition and will be vital to our future successes.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Portland was one of the NWSL's founding teams in 2013. The city also had a WNBA team, the Fire, from 2000 until it folded in 2002 — where they averaged 8,000 fans in attendance at the time.
USA Today ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR PORTLAND?
The facility will serve it as the first time a pair of women's teams, in different sports, will practice together. Slated to open in 2026, construction will now begin rapidly in the buildup to opening.
The Thorns, meanwhile, begin their 2025 NWSL campaign on March 15 against the KC Current.
