Beaverton's largest employer is sharing its research and gear with the region's newest professional sports complex.
Nike announced Thursday, Aug. 20, that it will equip the Kaiser Permanente Performance Center in Hillsboro and share decades of athlete performance research with the Portland Thorns and Portland Fire.
The partnership, revealed during an industry summit at Nike's Philip H. Knight Campus, makes the company a founding partner of Oregon's first training facility built exclusively for two women's professional teams.
"This partnership is about showing up in meaningful ways for athletes, teams, and the community, and helping raise the bar for the industry overall," Ann Miller, Nike executive vice president of global sport marketing, said at the announcement.
The 100,000-square-foot facility, which held its ribbon-cutting Saturday, Aug. 22, sits on a 12-acre former Nike office campus on Aloclek Drive in Hillsboro, near the Cornelius Pass exit off Highway 26. RAJ Sports leased the site from Workspace Property Trust under a 15-year agreement running through 2040, according to Hoodline.
The project is part of a broader $150 million campus buildout that has already moved more than 200 RAJ Sports front-office employees next door.
Under the deal, Nike will provide product, performance insights and design assistance. Financial terms were not disclosed. Mel Auguste, Nike's global vice president of sports marketing, said the partnership will focus on creating an environment that elevates how women professional athletes prepare, train, recover and perform, with research insights at the center. Only 6% of sport science research focuses exclusively on women, according to FIFA's Female Health Project.
The center includes two full-size soccer pitches, one with turf identical to Providence Park, and a 17,000-square-foot practice gym with two basketball courts, one mimicking the Moda Center floor.
Locker rooms were shaped after consulting players on details as specific as showerhead type and how hair products should be stored. Dedicated family spaces let players bring children to be cared for during training.
Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby, who attended the ribbon-cutting with her daughter Ruby, recalled practicing at a Beaverton facility built for the Portland Timbers in 2019 and finding a state-of-the-art mud room for cleat storage that the women's team lacked.
Nike also hosted the second annual Women's Global Sports Summit at its Beaverton headquarters Friday, Aug. 21, as part of Epicenter Week, a multi-day gathering organized by RAJ Sports. The week drew figures including Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman.
Beyond the facility, Nike and RAJ Sports said they will collaborate on youth sports programming in the Portland area, including clinics, mentorship and product donations to reduce barriers to sports participation for girls.
