How Nike, the WNBA, and NWSL Pitched Women’s Sports in Portland

When the WNBA’s commissioner labels your city “an epicenter of women’s sports,” there’s pressure to play to that standard.

Last week, during The Epicenter Women’s Global Sports Summit, RAJ Sports general manager Karina LeBlanc put in the legwork to show brands, fans, media, and the world at large what Portland, Oregon, had to offer all levels of women’s sports. Led by siblings Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, RAJ Sports initially formed when it took ownership of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings in 2013, entering the Portland market in January 2024 when it bought the National Women’s Soccer League’s Portland Thorns for $63 million.

In September, RAJ Sports was awarded a WNBA expansion franchise for a $125 million fee, and, during the announcement at Portland’s Moda Center, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert remarked that it “has become an epicenter of women’s sports, and the people of Portland have established this city as a premier destination.”

Much as RAJ Sports did after the Thorns purchase—when it brought in additional investors including Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns co-owner Sam Garvin, former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington, and Olympic medalists Ashton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton—it approached the business and sports communities and made the case for the Thorns, its newly named Portland Fire WNBA team, and women’s sports infrastructure.

Teaming with Nike, the NWSL, and the WNBA, RAJ Sports expanded on its “Thorns For All” community platform and held a community day at the Thorns’ Providence Park home stadium that let local businesses and organizations line the concourse, all while matches kicked off between the Thorns and Seattle Reign developmental academy teams and the Thorns and Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds’ women’s team.

Meanwhile, the organization also hosted a livestreamed fireside chat with Fire interim president Clare Hamill and invited the best youth teams in the world to Providence Park for the Nike U15 Global Premier Cup, just before a friendly Thorns-Reign match.

The center of the week’s events was an invitation-only Women’s Sports Innovation Summit held at the Tiger Woods Center at Nike World Headquarters just outside of Portland. Amid four discussions centered on the value of women’s sports leadership, investment, research, and athletes—featuring University of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, Nike CEO Elliott Hill, and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden—RAJ Sports’ LeBlanc implored the crowd to think critically, speak with each other during breaks, and left them with a call to action after each session.

“Whenever you’re up on the stage, you can always see who’s paying attention or not, and what was impressive to me is that everybody was glued to the stage throughout the entire day,” LeBlanc said. “You’re looking at CEOs where it’s almost impossible to get them for a full day because they have to run a business, but everyone was so interested, and the feedback we got was everybody learned something new.”

As panel moderator and ESPN/iHeart Women’s Sports journalist Sarah Spain pointed out, cities that become the epicenters for women’s sports, even temporarily, tend to wear the distinction prominently. For instance, Basel changed its street crossing figures to women’s soccer players for this year’s European Championship in Switzerland, and Indianapolis gave each WNBA team its own street signs for WNBA All-Star Weekend.

However, for Portland to claim the title year-round, it’ll need more events like the Epicenter summit, more support for people in the room, more attention for youth programs, and investments like the Thorns and Fire’s $150 million joint training facility—and more followers for the vocal, engaging general manager out front leading the way.

Veteran leadership

Karina LeBlanc represented Canada at the World Cup five times as a goalkeeper, won a bronze medal with her country at the 2012 Summer Olympics, had a professional sports career spanning 14 years, and ended her playing days with a 2015 Women’s World Cup run in her home country.

But it was the club where she played just one season and 21 matches in 2013—the Portland Thorns—that left a lasting impression far beyond her 2-0 shutout to secure the club’s first NWSL championship.

“One of my memories from playing here was saving penalty kicks, because I was in that North End, and I felt the energy of our city,” LeBlanc said. “No matter where you go, you can get high attendance, but it’s so personal to Portland.”

After serving as CONCACAF’s head of women’s soccer from 2018 through 2021, LeBlanc was offered the general manager’s job with the Thorns last year as the club rebuilt from the NWSL abuse scandal. During LeBlanc’s early tenure, the Thorns won the NWSL Challenge Cup, the Women’s International Champions Cup, and the NWSL Shield in 2021 before winning the club’s third NWSL title in 2022.

Also during that time, LeBlanc and her daughter, Paris, had begun walking laps around the field at the Thorns’ home stadium, Providence Park, after games and greeting fans.

“The first time I did that lap with my daughter at a Thorns game, I did that to thank the city for showing up because I want to make sure people understand the importance of them even showing up,” LeBlanc said. “Some of it was my daughter: We moved here from the Bahamas during the pandemic, so she hadn’t been around as many people as most people would have thought, so this is a city that made me feel like I belonged, and I wanted her to feel that way.”

Last year, after RAJ Sports purchased the Thorns and received its WNBA franchise, LeBlanc was named the company’s GM and became even more familiar to sports fans in Portland. When the Portland Fire brand was revived in July, she served as a de facto emcee for thousands of fans outside the Moda Center as they lined up for merchandise, food carts, and team tattoos. At the Women’s Sports Innovation Summit, she hosted both the event and a panel with Olympic track and field legend Carl Lewis, U.S. women’s soccer World Cup winner (and Portland resident) Shannon Boxx, and basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sylvia Fowles—a discussion she recorded for her soon-to-launch Epicenter of Women’s Sports Podcast.

LeBlanc noted that she returned to Portland because it was a city in which she felt she could always be herself, and she accepted the additional responsibilities of a WNBA team because basketball was her first love, where she “saw women who looked like me doing a sport at a high level.” But her partner for those laps around Providence Park is still her main inspiration for being the face of Portland’s women’s sports empire.

“My why is my daughter. This is where I’m raising my daughter, and we always talk every day about ‘go be your own hero,’ but I also know how she looks at me, so every single day I want to be her ‘shero,’” LeBlanc said.

City of dreams

Portland is a city that turns out for women’s sports. During the Fire’s original run from 2000 to 2002, it averaged more than 8,000 fans per game. As recently as 2023, the WNBA’s league average was below 6,660.

Last year, the NWSL hit an all-time average attendance high of 11,250 fans per game. The Thorns exceeded that during LeBlanc’s one year there as a player (13,320 back in 2013) and are averaging more than 17,000 per match this year—including a peak audience of more than 21,000 for Pride Night back in June.

The Fire claim more than 12,500 season ticket reservations ahead of their 2026 debut, while a women’s soccer city that produced global stars Tiffeny Milbrett, Megan Rapinoe, and Christine Sinclair at the University of Portland gets ready to welcome Sinclair back for a number retirement ceremony later this season. The LPGA Portland Classic tees off its 54th installment later this month, while the NCAA brings its March Madness women’s regionals to town in 2028 and its Final Four and Championship in 2030.

In a city where The Sports Bra not only inspired dozens of bars dedicated to women’s sports but also franchises in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Boston, and Las Vegas, it’s not uncommon to see boys and men in Thorns jerseys and women’s sports bringing lots of people together. As LeBlanc has discovered, those people swayed by her message and that of the Epicenter summit aren’t always typical sports fans, but neighbors who connect through their kids, the arts, local food, and other shared interests.

“The Bhathal family saw this in me—I knew the GM and president role wasn’t the role that I loved—but they saw this opportunity for me and they created this position for me to speak and be my authentic self because this is what I’ve lived… this is who I am,” LeBlanc said.