Nike and RAJ Sports announced a multiyear partnership on Aug. 20, that will funnel free sports clinics, camps and Nike product to girls across Portland while embedding Nike staff expertise inside the new training facility shared by the Portland Thorns and Portland Fire.

The deal, unveiled at Epicenter Week at Nike's Beaverton headquarters before roughly 270 attendees including sports business executives, league commissioners, investors and athletes, marks the first formal multiyear commitment between Nike and the Thorns/Fire ownership group. Financial terms and the exact length of the agreement were not disclosed.

"RAJ Sports and Nike share a belief in this moment," RAJ Sports co-owner Lisa Bhathal Merage said at the event, reported by The Oregonian. "This moment calls for more than conversation. It requires commitment, investment and action."

The partnership rests on three pillars, according to a Thorns press release: sports and performance innovation at the new training center, expanded youth access through programming and product, and cross-platform storytelling connecting the Thorns, Fire and Nike.

For Portland families, the youth access piece is the most tangible. Nike's Social and Community Impact arm will support programming led by trained coaches who reflect the communities they serve. The stated goal: every girl in Portland knows sport is for her. No specific enrollment numbers, launch dates or sign-up details have been announced.

The facility side of the deal ties directly to the Kaiser Permanente Performance Center, a 100,000-square-foot complex in Hillsboro unveiled Friday, Aug. 21. It houses both the NWSL's Thorns and the WNBA's Fire under one roof.

"It will be the only dual female professional performance center in the world," Thorns general manager Jeff Agoos told the Charlotte Business Journal ahead of the opening. "I think that speaks to the investment of Lisa and Alex in terms of providing and putting players and staff in an environment that allows them to do their best work."

RAJ Sports is led by siblings Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage. The Fire, one of the WNBA's newest franchises, made its on-court debut in 2026.

Nike's global vice president of sports marketing, Melanie Auguste, said at the event that the company will lend its expertise in sports and performance innovation at the new center. Nike also committed in the press release to helping raise the bar for the women's sports industry overall.

Epicenter Week, which RAJ Sports produces and Nike sponsors, ran Aug. 19–23 and included an invitation-only Women's Global Sports Summit at the University of Oregon's Portland campus. The event is in its second year.

No timeline has been set for when the youth clinics and camps will begin accepting participants. The Thorns and Fire, meanwhile, continue their respective NWSL and WNBA seasons out of the new Hillsboro facility.