Ep. 34 | Portland's $150M Bet on Women's Sports, WNBA Top Performances & Playoff Predictions

The Portland Thorns and Portland Fire just opened a $150 million training facility built for two professional women's teams, and it might be the clearest answer yet to the "nobody watches women's sports" crowd.The Kaiser Permanente Performance Center in Hillsboro, Oregon is 100,000 square feet on a 12-acre campus, and it's the first facility in the world designed to house two pro women's teams from two different sports under one roof. We use it as a jumping-off point to walk through what NWSL clubs are actually spending on training facilities right now, and the total is not small. Then we get into the WNBA playoff picture, our full bracket predictions, and the harassment that keeps hijacking games the league should be celebrating.This week we dig into:- Women's sports facility investment: inside the Thorns and Fire's new home, from two full-size pitches and a 17,000-square-foot practice gym to family lounges and full-service dining, plus a rundown of what Denver, Chicago, Gotham, Atlanta, Columbus and Manchester City are building. Alex's quick math on the NWSL projects alone lands somewhere north of $240 million.- WNBA playoff predictions: all but one spot is claimed, the seeding fight is really a home-court fight, and we give you our full bracket. Lynx over the Liberty in five, and we explain why NaLyssa Smith's knee injury may have flipped the Aces-Liberty series before it starts.- The harassment problem in the W: objects thrown onto courts, a man who walked onto the baseline to make himself the story, racist messages sent to Dearica Hamby, and our case for lifetime bans and actual leadership from the league office.- Standout performances: Angel Reese's 31 and 14 against the Mercury, Kelsey Mitchell's 20-point streak now at 23 straight games after passing A'ja Wilson's record, Natasha Cloud's career night against the Liberty, Awak Kuier's seven blocks, and Sydney Taylor's second game-winner of the month.- NWSL playoff race: eighth through eleventh separated by two points, Gotham's nine-game unbeaten run, Washington's winless August, and a game-by-game look at whose remaining schedule is actually survivable.We also get to Nneka Ogwumike's retirement after 15 seasons, Tobin Heath's jersey retirement in Portland, Georgia drawing an NCAA-record 25,433 for women's soccer, San Francisco landing the 2027 WNBA All-Star Game, Team USA's FIBA World Cup roster, Coco Gauff's Cincinnati title, Miyu Yamashita's record-tying nine-shot win in Canada, and 12-year-old Kinley Rasmus tying Mo'ne Davis' Little League World Series strikeout record.Follow Raising the Game for weekly women's sports coverage.Instagram/Threads/YouTube: @rtg_podWebsite: rtgpod.comSubstack: substack.com/@raisingthegamepodcastEmail: [email protected]