Big news during tough times is always welcome. And today, news broke that Hillsboro, Oregon, will be the new home of the training facility for the Portland Thorns and the new Portland WNBA Franchise! The WNBA.com website posted the story this morning, and the word traveled quickly.
RAJ Sports, the Bhathal family’s sports investment platform and owners of the Portland Thorns FC and the new Portland WNBA franchise revealed plans for a groundbreaking dual-sport women’s performance center. This innovative facility will cater to professional women’s soccer (NWSL) and basketball (WNBA) teams.
The performance center is designed to prioritize innovation and athletic excellence. It will feature a unique elite training core, integrating cutting-edge training, advanced recovery methods, holistic wellness, and lifestyle elements tailored to female athletes’ needs in a collaborative, multi-team environment.
The news shared that the facility is in Hillsboro, but not the exact location. The Herald has learned that the sports complex will be on a 12-acre performance center at 3340 Ne Aloclek Dr, Hillsboro, OR 97124.
The article listed an incredible array of features once millions are spent remodeling the campus.
- 63,000-square-foot training facility
- 17,000-square-foot practice gym with two full-size basketball courts
- Two full-sized soccer pitches and an outdoor training zone
- 5,000-square-foot strength training facility with top-of-the-line equipment, an outdoor turf zone, and a yoga/Pilates room
- Elite training core program integrating strength and conditioning, sports science, and sports medicine.
- Dedicated dressing rooms for WNBA and NWSL teams with spa-like amenities
- Dining room with a full-time chef and nutritionist, offering performance-focused meals and refueling stations
- Dedicated family rooms for players
- Team meeting rooms and social media content rooms
- Private player parking and entry
RAJ Sports is committed to sustainability and will repurpose the suburban office complex previously occupied by Nike. This project, in partnership with Workspace Property Trust, represents an innovative approach to adaptive reuse.
The campus envisioned as a global epicenter for women’s sports, will be developed in phases at a total cost exceeding $150 million. It will include the performance center and future additions, aiming to create a peak performance and recovery innovation center focused on female athletes. The first phase, a $75 million, 12-acre state-of-the-art facility, is designed by Populous.
Hillsboro continues expanding as a Sports town and has much to offer to the WNBA and the Portland Thorns!
Welcome to Hillsboro Portland Thorns, the future WNBA team and coaches, and to the Bhatal family, RAJ Sports, and their entire team!
RAJ Sports manages to do what entire regional sports concerns here cannot. We’ve seen nominally connected businessmen (mostly men) huddle under the “sports” banner, make grandiose promises about the teams, events, and facilities “they” will deliver, but then not follow through.
During the women’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 last year, we heard a lot of credit taken for bringing the event to Portland, but when it came time to promote the games and welcome players, coaches, and fans… the job was largely left to out-of-state companies and businesses like The Sports Bra and Spirit of 77, who don’t typically fall within the club. The billboard of Dawn Staley that’s still downtown? Thank Aflac for that.
Those same businessmen said they wanted to bring a “major league” franchise to the Portland area and bounced from building site to building site promising the old men of the region the fulfillment of their midwest childhood dreams… then repeatedly left empty lots. RAJ, meanwhile, not only kept the Thorns in Portland but secured the WNBA franchise that the same businessmen failed to simply by putting up the money and finding dedicated investors from beyond the old boys’ spheres of influence.
And the best part about my new neighbors down Evergreen—other than the professional-grade training and practice facilities that should aid recruiting and performance—is exactly what they asked the rest of us to pay for it: $0. No public land, no public funding… $0 public dollars.
As I mentioned elsewhere, the Thorns draw REALLY well from here. Check out the Max back from games, or the Glencoe window stickers around the corner from The Goose… or the screens at Front Row, HBG and Noble Hop. I fully expect Portland’s W team to find similar support. RAJ Sports made an investment in their teams, but they also made an investment in this community that I’d love to see Mayor Pace build upon.
The world shows us what works at the end of the day. Old white guys sucking on stoggies isn’t working anymore unless they tax the people of the world. I’m excited for these organizations and for Hillsboro! Love that it is being done with private money!!
Really like your take on this Jason. RAJ is the real deal.
Judging by their role in the Blazers negotiations and the recent appearance of a yet-unowned AUSL franchise in Hillsboro, I get the sense that RAJ Sports isn’t done in this market. Since buying into the Thorns, they’ve asserted themselves as “The Real Deal.” Thus far, there’s scant evidence to the contrary.