Portland Fire players got a chance to see their new training facility, the Kaiser Permanente Performance Center, this week, after spending training camp and part of the season at Portland State University.
The WNBA team’s new digs — shared with the NWSL’s Portland Thorns — are impressive, and not just because it is the first purpose-built women’s training facility for two pro teams in different sports. The complex has a spa-like vibe, something that was important to team owner Lisa Bhathal Merage.
Some of the perks? Each team has its own locker room. Two nursing and changing rooms for mothers with infants, along with a nursery. A Pilates and yoga studio. A meditation and massage room. Even an underwater treadmill.
“It was two years in the making, and it was just amazing to see the response from the athletes,” said Fire president Clare Hamill, who said she toured the team’s new training home with the players on Monday.
Portland Thorns players Sophia Wilson and Morgan Weaver helped select many of the finishes. Wilson was on maternity leave, and Weaver was injured, so they were tapped for their time and expertise. One contribution was the decision to have the logos in the entryway fashioned in rose gold.
Bhathal Merage asked Wilson what nursing chair she used at home, and then ordered some for the performance center.
Of course, the new facility includes the tools of the trade. The facility includes two full-size outdoor soccer fields, two basketball courts in a massive gym, an extensive weight room and a cafeteria.
The training facility is a repurposed Nike office park in Hillsboro, Oregon, west of Portland. The Bhathals invested $150 million to transform it into a state-of-the-art performance center that works for both soccer and basketball — and women.
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The Fire and the Thorns are owned and operated by Raj Sports, led by Bhathal Merage and her brother, Alex Bhathal. They purchased the Portland Thorns in early 2024 for $63 million. After another separate bid for an expansion WNBA team in Portland fell through, the Bhathals jumped in and were awarded the expansion franchise in 2024 for a reported expansion fee of $75 million, with other commitments bringing the total to $125 million.
The expansion team adopted its nickname from the original Portland Fire, which played in the WNBA from 2000-02 before folding.
This weekend’s opening was part of Raj Sports’ annual celebration of women’s sports dubbed Epicenter Week. The festivities included the Women’s Global Sports Summit at the Nike campus in Beaverton. Among the speakers was South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.
Speaking about women’s sports overall, Staley’s comments dovetailed with the investment and intentionality put into the performance center.
“It’s a great thing to see that we’re being listened to, and it’s a great thing to see that people who have invested in women’s sports,” Staley explained, “they see a large return on their investment, and that’s why they’re listening now because they’re getting something back. I think that’s the most beautiful thing that women can continue to do, is continue to voice what’s in your heart, right? Protect our sport and know that we’re worthy for everything that we’re getting.”
The weekend concludes with the ribbon cutting for the new performance center and a Thorns match at home against the Denver Summit on Saturday, followed by the Fire’s game against the Washington Mystics on Sunday at the Moda Center.
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