The Portland Thorns are adding minority investors, including a former NBA player, the CEO of a sportswear company, a prominent asset manager and an NBA co-owner.
Less than five months after buying the Portland Thorns for $63 million, Thorns governor Lisa Bhathal Merage and her brother, Alex Bhathal, the alternate governor, announced Thursday that the team has added several new investors. They include Sam Garvin, the co-owner of Phoenix Suns; Tim Boyle, the CEO of Columbia Sportswear; Nehal Raj, co-managing partner of TPG; Josh Childress, the CEO of LandSpire Group and a former NBA player; and Kunal Merchant, the partner and COO of Revitate, the alternative investment platform led by the Bhathal family.
“This is a very intentional group,” said Merchant, who leads Revitate’s sports activities and advised the Bhathals on the initial acquisition. “It’s about bringing in more talent and expertise to advance our strategy, and demonstrate that both women and men are actively supporting the next frontier of growth for the Thorns, NWSL and women’s sports more broadly.”
The team declined to provide financial specifics regarding the size of their stakes or the valuation on the team.
The Bhathals bought the Thorns in January from the Paulson family. The $63 million price was, at the time, the highest ever paid for a control stake in an NWSL team. That record was later shattered by the $113 million San Diego Wave sale.
The Thorns deal was particularly unique because the team shares much of its backend infrastructure—sales, marketing, legal, sponsorships, etc.—with the Portland Timbers of MLS, the Paulsons’ other franchise. As part of the sale agreement, the new owners entered a service agreement with the Paulsons to keep providing that assistance while the Bhathals built out a new staff for the Thorns.
The Thorns also committed to a new lease in the Paulson-controlled Providence Park through 2035. The Bhathals are looking to build a new practice facility, a project that will likely cost low eight figures.
The new investors will support the club’s growth plans both on and off the pitch, including the development of that training facility. The group has a diverse background that includes sports ownership—in addition to the Suns, Garvin is part owner of Spanish soccer club Mallorca, and Childress co-owns the South East Melbourne Phoenix of the National Basketball League.
The Thorns are one of the NWSL’s eight inaugural franchises. The club led the league in attendance every year from 2013 to 2021 and has won three championships. The team is currently 6-3-1, in fourth place and averaging 18,279 fans per home game, the third-highest total in the league. Sportico values the team at $65 million.
According to Merchant, the Bhathals initially planned to wait about a year before adding LPs, but that timeline shrunk due to inbound demand.
“Investor interest in the Thorns is off the charts,” he said. “We wanted to create opportunities for additional investors to come in. We’ve given ourselves maybe a year, but within two months, we had so much demand in being a part of this.”
