FILE - Washington Spirit forward Rosemonde Kouassi (19) plays the ball past Portland Thorns FC goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold where teammate Gift Monday scored a goal during the first half of a NWSL semifinal women's soccer match, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
John McDonnell / AP
A first-of-its-kind training center for professional women athletes has a new sponsor, a new name and a new medical provider — and they’re all the same company.
Kaiser Permanente has reached a deal with the owners of Portland’s two pro women’s sports teams to name the facility under construction in Hillsboro and provide health services there.
The new training complex will sport the health company’s name as the Kaiser Permanente Performance Center, according to a Thursday press release from Raj Sports, which owns the Portland Thorns soccer team and the city’s fledgling women’s basketball team, the Portland Fire.
“Our goal is to have the best care in women’s sports,” Lisa Bhathal Merage, managing partner of Raj Sports and co-owner of the Thorns and Fire, said in a statement.
Kaiser will go beyond treating athletes’ injuries to provide “an integrated approach to sports medicine, injury prevention, rehabilitation, mental health support, and long-term athlete health,” according to the release posted on the Thorns’ website.
The performance center is expected to open in “early 2026” and include a 90,000-square-foot training facility. It’s planned to house two basketball courts and two soccer pitches, both “full size,” according to the team.
Bhathal Merage and her brother, Alex Bhathal, have made a significant investment in Portland, in an effort to cement the Rose City as the “epicenter of women’s sports.” The siblings have moved quickly, buying the Thorns in January 2024 and establishing a WNBA team later that same year. It wasn’t long after that plans for a joint training facility were announced.
The Portland Thorns are among the most successful teams in women’s professional sports, having appeared in the playoffs nine seasons in a row, winning three championships over that period.
The Portland Fire are yet to tip off. The team is preparing for its first season in the WNBA, scheduled to start in May, but planning for that has been compromised by an ongoing contract dispute between the league and the players’ union.
The Thursday announcement from Raj Sports and Kaiser Permanente suggests a commitment beyond the care of professional athletes by “creating meaningful, lasting impact across the Portland community.”
The announcement doesn’t detail what that impact will look like. A description of the facility under the banner of “community connection” says there will be spaces for “clinics, classes, youth programming, and public health initiatives.”
