UPDATE! Portland Athletic Club has been bought!
PAC Fam,
Over a year ago, we came together to save our beloved Portland Athletic Club (PAC) from being converted into a pickleball facility. Today, we're thrilled to share some wonderful news: PAC has been purchased and will remain a tennis club!
This victory belongs to an incredible community. Thank you to the nearly 1,900 people who signed our petition, the 800 supporters who joined our email list, the local and national media who helped shine a light on PAC and Marion Blackburn's story and legacy, and the countless advocates who spoke up, shared our message, and rallied alongside us. Your voices made a difference.
Below is a letter from the new owners. We are excited by their vision, commitment, and proven ability to grow the game of tennis in the Portland area while honoring PAC's rich legacy.
Tennis begins with love, The Save PAC Campaign
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From: BEAVERTON SPORTS CLUB
To the Portland Athletic Club community,
First, thank you. The energy this community poured into keeping these courts alive did not go unnoticed, and it's a big part of why the club's story gets to continue.
We're glad to share that we've acquired the Portland Athletic Club, and we're keeping it exactly what it has always been at heart: a home for tennis. Going forward, the club will operate as Beaverton Sports Club, a new name and a new chapter on the same courts so many of you love.
We also want to be upfront about who we are and where we're headed. We're a privately run club, and tennis comes first in everything we do. What we do best is bring the game to people through great coaching, from beginners to advanced competitors, and we're committed to growing tennis across the greater Portland area. That means bringing in strong coaches, welcoming new players, and creating the kind of events and competition that raise the level of the sport for everyone.
Beaverton Sports Club is built to be two things at once. It's a welcoming, everyday tennis club for members, families, adults, and seniors who simply love to play. It's also a serious hub for player development, powered by Tier 1 Performance, our Pacific Northwest junior program. Over the past 15 years, Tier 1's coaching system has developed more than 100 athletes who have gone on to play college tennis on scholarship. It's a proven pathway that meets players wherever they start and takes them as far as their commitment will carry them.
We also know how much this club has meant to this area and its members over the years, and we don't take that lightly. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, especially Marion Blackburn, PAC's founder and owner, who established Oregon's first Black privately owned tennis club.Our goal is to honor it and build on it: keeping the doors open, the courts full, and the community strong.
Enhancing the facility will happen in several phases, and we want to be honest about what that looks like. The club will be under construction over the next year or so as we work through a series of planned upgrades. Rather than shutting everything down at once, we've mapped the work into stages so we can keep tennis going while we improve the building around it.
Early phases focus on the essentials including more parking, with thoughtful new touches to follow throughout the club. We're taking a steady, patient approach, so that every improvement is one we can sustain and build on. There will be some changes and a little dust along the way, and we're grateful for your patience as it all comes together. Our commitment to this club, and to tennis in Portland, is for the long haul.
You can learn more about our vision and follow along as plans develop here: www.beavertonsportsclub.com Please feel free to drop your email there for more information and we will be reaching out to everyone very soon.
Thank you again for caring about this place. We can't wait to see you on the courts.
Warmly,
On behalf of the Beaverton Sports Club team