Portland Thorns, WNBA team break ground on joint training facility in Hillsboro

HILLSBORO — In one of many unassuming business parks stretching across the suburbs west of Portland, a tree-lined concretescape inhabited by giants like Intel and Nike, another innovative presence rears its head.

Two professional women’s sports teams, setting the foundation for a first-of-its-kind, joint training facility built specifically for women athletes.

The Portland Thorns and future Portland WNBA team, both owned by Lisa Bhathal Merage of RAJ Sports, broke ground on the training facility Tuesday in front of a crowd that included youth athletes, local politicians and investors. The first phase of the project at the 12-acre property will cost approximately $75 million, with the goal of being open by early 2026 — just in time for the Thorns’ next season and ahead of the yet-to-be-named WNBA expansion team’s arrival.

RELATED: When will Portland’s new WNBA team have a name?

“Everybody talks about equity, but we’re building equity,” said Karina LeBlanc, a former professional soccer player and previous general manager for the Thorns who now serves as a vice president for RAJ Sports. “When you look at it that way, it gives me goosebumps just to be part of this conversation.”

Mayors and members of congress schmoozed with sports stakeholders Tuesday, all while girls of varying age groups played soccer and basketball on the parking lot and grass field that will be transformed into the sprawling training complex. The DJ knew the range of their audience, playing hits from Sabrina Carpenter to Nicki Minaj to Destiny’s Child.

For many of those at the event, women’s sports represent a major business opportunity, with the facility marking a historic moment in Portland’s longstanding investment in the rapidly growing enterprise. But it is the existential significance, especially to women athletes, that often rose to the top of conversations.

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici tied the moment back to fellow Oregon congresswoman Edith Green’s fight to pass Title IX in 1972. The former Olympian LeBlanc and Hillsboro mayor Beach Pace harkened back to their athletic careers, both goalkeepers at one time.

“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, I was told, ‘Don’t worry about it, leave it. Because no one will ever pay to see women play sports,’” Pace said. “That’s what I was told, over and over. Ended up choosing a career in the military. 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.”

LeBlanc sees a through line from previous generations who had to fight to play sports in the first place, to herself as a former professional athlete who played in facilities built for men, to the women of today’s NWSL and WNBA who will now have places to call their own.

With inspirational speeches, shovels in the ground and photo ops, there was plenty familiar about the scene Tuesday for those who follow sports or the business interests wrapped around it. But those who’ve spent a lifetime specifically in women’s sports see far-reaching significance in the seeds being planted.

“My young daughter will be here today, and she’s excited. She’s five years old,” LeBlanc said. “She already thinks this is normal. But them over there shooting around, they still have to fight to get practice time. We all know that. The professionals have had to fight for practice time. So, if you start at the top and make it accessible for all, imagine what’s possible in the future.”

— Ryan Clarke covers college sports for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at RClarke@Oregonian.com or on Twitter/X: @RyanTClarke. Find him on Bluesky: @ryantclarke.bsky.social.