Elected officials, including Gov. Tina Kotek, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace as well as the Portland Thorns and WNBA ownership group break ground on the new joint training facility in Hillsboro. (Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune)

In a milestone moment for women’s sports, Portland cemented its place at the forefront of progress Tuesday morning, April 22, with the groundbreaking of a training facility designed exclusively for professional female athletes.

Oregon politicians, business leaders, sports icons and youth athletes gathered in Hillsboro to celebrate the start of the Portland Thorns/Portland WNBA Women’s Sports Performance Center.

“This facility was intentionally built for her with her in mind. How many buildings have we walked into where we know that they were built for women? None. This is the first of its kind,” said Karina LeBlanc, vice president of Raj Sports and former professional soccer player. “When you look at this next generation ahead, they will grow up knowing that there’s a facility built for them… This is not just a facility, it is all about what is possible.”

Located off Northeast Aloclek Drive near the Tanasbourne area, the first-of-its-kind facility is being built by RAJ Sports, the sports investment platform of the Bhathal family, who own the Portland Thorns and Portland WNBA franchises. The $75 million first phase will transform a former Nike office complex into a 12-acre hub of athletic development, recovery and wellness.

Elected officials, including Gov. Tina Kotek, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace, joined the festivities and spoke to the importance of the facility for the community and female athletes across Oregon.

Throughout the morning, the message was clear from all speakers: Portland is not just part of the growing momentum in women’s sports — it is leading it.

“ This center is for the Portland Thorns. This center is for the Portland WNBA. It’s for every young girl in Portland and beyond who dreams of playing at the highest level and sees that it’s not only possible, but it’s happening right here in Portland,” said Portland Thorns and Portland WNBA owner Lisa Bhathal Merage. “ We are cementing Portland as the global epicenter of women’s sports.”

The facility itself will include a 63,000-square-foot training building, a 17,000-square-foot basketball gym with two full courts and two full-size soccer pitches. Athletes will have access to amenities such as hyperbaric therapy, red-light therapy, yoga rooms, strength training zones, a full-time chef and even dedicated family spaces.

This performance center comes as women’s professional sports continue to rise in popularity across the nation. In 2024, the National Women’s Soccer League saw a significant boost in attendance, with over 2 million tickets sold and average game crowds exceeding 11,000 fans. The NWSL’s Kansas City Current also made history by selling out every game at their new stadium, the first purpose-built soccer stadium for a women’s team.

In Oregon, women’s sports have long thrived. Both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University women’s basketball teams have found success, with both reaching the Final Four in the past decade. The LPGA’s Portland Classic is also the longest-running women’s golf event, and Raj Sport’s’ own Portland Thorns have consistently led the NWSL in attendance, including a record-setting 2019 season when they became the first team to average over 20,000 fans per match.

The Thorns currently don’t have a separate performance facility and train predominantly at Providence Park in Portland, where they also play their matches.

Thorns forward Morgan Weaver beamed at the thought of calling the facility home and was especially excited to cut down on her commute to Providence Park and have her own designated space.

“ Well, the first thing is it’s only like 10 minutes from my house. That’s huge,” Weaver said, laughing. “ There are so many different things that I’m excited about. We don’t have to share with anyone besides the WNBA team, which is amazing because it’s just women supporting women. We’re going to have our own separate section from them but there’s also going to be conjoined spaces where we can hang out, eat together and do different activities with each other.”

Once complete, the facility is expected to serve as a year-round training site for both the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and the WNBA’s newest and yet-to-be-named franchise, set to debut in 2026. According to Weaver, the team anticipates training there every day during the season.

Throughout the morning, LeBlanc continued to highlight how far women’s sports have come since her playing days, commenting that she was always training in men’s facilities or waiting to play until the men were done.

Pace, emotional as she addressed the crowd, also spoke to the decades of doubt women in sports have faced.

“I grew up playing soccer, and I was told as I was in high school and continuing on, looking where I could play soccer in college, ‘Don’t worry about it, leave it. Because no one will ever pay to see women play sports.’ That’s what I was told, over and over,” she said. “But when I go to Thorns games and see the stands full, when I come to an event like this, I get very emotional, because I was told you all wouldn’t exist. I was told it would never happen. And now it is.”

Throughout the day, the phrase “everyone watches women’s sports” echoed across the ceremony, a clear reflection of the momentum behind the project. While the ceremony followed the usual script of groundbreakings, it also marked a more profound shift for those invested in women’s sports: a long-overdue investment in athletes often overlooked.