The Bhathal family, investors in the Sacramento Kings, have reached an agreement to purchase the NWSL’s Portland Thorns for $63 million, according to multiple people familiar with the details.
It’s the highest price ever paid for a control stake in an NWSL team, eclipsing the $53 million expansion fees committed recently by new ownership groups in the Bay Area and Boston. Existing teams in both Chicago and Washington D.C. sold in the past few years for about $35 million.
The deal also includes a service agreement between the current owners, the Paulson family, and the Bhathals that will keep much of the team’s backend infrastructure in place for the 2024 season, according to the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private. That’s an important development, because the Thorns share much of their sales, marketing, legal and sponsorship employees with the Paulsons’ other team, MLS’ Portland Timbers. The Bhathal family is also committing to build a new practice facility for the Thorns, a project that will likely cost low eight figures.
The NWSL announced the deal Wednesday but did not disclose financial specifics. It’s unclear if there are any LPs joining the Bhathals. Representatives for the league and the Thorns declined to comment, and a representative for the Bhathal family didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lisa Bhathal Merage will be the Thorns’ primary governor. Her brother Alex will be the alternate governor.
The Thorns are one of the NWSL’s eight inaugural teams, and for years they were the league’s commercial torchbearer. The club led the NWSL in attendance every year from 2013-2021, and has won a league-high three championships. The Thorns have been on the market for more than a year following a lengthy investigation into abuse within women’s soccer, which led the NWSL to accuse Thorns leadership of failing to take appropriate action in light of allegations of player abuse and sexual misconduct against a former head coach.
The sale was complicated by the fact that the Timbers provide so much back-end infrastructure to the Thorns—even the Thorns website is housed within the Timbers domain—and also control Providence Park, the stadium where the Thorns play. Alongside the purchase agreement, the Thorns have a new lease to play in the venue through 2035.
Sportico recently valued the Thorns at $65 million, which ranks fourth among the 12 teams that competed last season. The league is in the process of expanding, adding teams in Utah, Boston and the Bay Area, and a 16th franchise that has yet to be awarded.
Raj Bhathal emigrated to the U.S. from India in 1960. He and his wife, Marta, founded swimsuit maker Raj Manufacturing in 1967. In 2006, Alex and Lisa led a private equity buyout of the company, now called Raj Swim. The siblings then launched their Newport Beach family office, Raj Capital Managing Partners.
The family office was reorganized in 2021 to create an investment vehicle, called Revitate, open to outside investors. Revitate focuses on three main areas—real estate, consumer goods and sports—with the goal of reaching several billion dollars under management, according to a 2021 story in the Orange County Business Journal. Sportico was the first to report on the family’s interest in the Thorns back in November.
The Bhathals briefly owned the Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football in the early 1990s and were part of the group that bought the Sacramento Kings and their arena in 2013 for $534 million. (The franchise is now worth $3.46 billion, according to Sportico.)
The Thorns were one of two NWSL teams actively seeking a buyer. The other, OL Reign, are in talks with a group led by the Seattle Sounders and private equity giant Carlyle, according to Sportico’s prior reporting. Commissioner Jessica Berman had previously said she wanted both processes to wrap up by the end of 2023.
With assistance from Kurt Badenhausen.