A proposal to let the private US Tennis Association (USTA) take the reins of the Portland Tennis Center—and the rest of the city’s public courts—has gained momentum. The plan comes amid a broader push for Portland’s parks bureau, facing budget woes and a growing maintenance backlog, to open its doors to offers from the private sector.
The Portland Tennis Center (PTC) is a beloved institution for Portland tennis players. The site, located in inner Northeast Portland just south of I-84, is home to 12 courts, most of which are inside an inflatable dome structure. The PTC is one of only a few local establishments offering indoor court space, and the only city-owned facility with such an amenity.
Like many other Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) assets, however, the PTC isn’t in perfect condition. A partnership with the US Tennis Association Pacific Northwest could help finance some upgrades at the PTC and other city courts, while allowing the city to save some money. The USTA has proposed a deal that would see the organization in charge of Portland’s tennis programming for 30 years.
The anticipated cost savings resulting from the tennis center deal are reflected in the city’s proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget, even though the City Council has not yet approved the USTA partnership. If the deal goes into effect by the end of the calendar year, as the budget sets out, the city stands to save a little more than $1 million annually on tennis center staffing and maintenance. The partnership would also eliminate four full-time city jobs, and could impact dozens more seasonal positions.
Responses to the proposal have been mixed. While some local tennis players are excited, hoping a private benefactor would bring some upgrades to the facility, others fear handing the tennis center over to a private organization would limit access to what is currently an affordable, inclusive space. Outside the tennis community, some are generally wary of potential consequences if the city’s public parks system embraces private money.
Mostly, people—particularly those who rely on the tennis center for recreation and community—are just hoping for some clarity.
Mary Anne Sweeney is one of those players. Sweeney has been playing tennis in Portland on and off for more than 40 years, but started going to the PTC on a regular basis a little over a decade ago. She said she sees the tennis center as one of Portland’s most unique, community-oriented amenities.
“The community at the tennis center is fantastic. It’s one of the best things this city has to offer,” Sweeney told the Mercury. “We actually have affordable indoor tennis courts in Portland, and we’ve had them forever. I don’t want us to lose this.”
Sweeney has several questions about the USTA deal, which she feels have gone unanswered.
“Is this a done deal? What will be the price structure? What are we going to lose?” Sweeney asked, referring to the potential management change. “We don’t know whether to be bummed out or happy.”
A “no-brainer” solution for Portland tennis?
The USTA’s Pacific Northwest branch, headquartered in Beaverton, manages various tennis programs around the region. In Portland, the USTA PNW has partnered with the city on summer programming at public tennis courts for both children and adults. The organization currently operates two tennis centers in Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington, both of which previously existed under different ownership before reopening as USTA facilities in 2018.
Portland leaders in favor of the USTA taking over the tennis center have referenced the Vancouver facility, which was previously operated by the city, as an example of what the PTC should aspire to. The Vancouver center has been commended for its glow-up since the USTA took over and helped fund renovations and programming changes.
Councilor Dan Ryan, who has been at the forefront of the effort to get USTA involved in local tennis programming, says the organization is eager to partner with PP&R on managing the PTC. He thinks the city would be short-sighted not to take them up on the offer.
“This is a no-brainer,” Ryan said at a December City Council committee meeting about the proposal. “This opportunity provides the city with a partner who will invest in our tennis programming and facilities in exchange for operating the tennis center.”
Ryan said he visited the Vancouver Tennis Center and was “truly beyond impressed” with what he saw, describing a bustling, clean, and well-maintained facility.
“My main takeaway from the visit was that this didn’t look like a public facility,” Ryan said. “It looked like a really fancy private facility.”
It’s unclear, however, how much money Portland would really save through this partnership. Last year’s budget allocated a little more than $2.2 million for the tennis center, about half of which is for staffing the facility. Roughly $900,000 of the funding is generated through PTC fees and membership payments. The remaining $1.3 million comes from the parks levy and the city’s general fund.
According to a December memo from Portland Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery, a partnership with USTA would see the organization taking on all operating costs at the center—though the city might be on the hook for between $50,000 and $250,000 a year, depending on how involved it remains.
The USTA has committed to investing $3 million in Portland tennis programming, including roughly $2.3 million to upgrade the Portland Tennis Center. But Biery’s memo said the city estimates the tennis center could actually use $10 million in capital improvements. And it’s unclear if the private organization plans to renovate the tennis courts across Portland’s parks, many of which are in states of disrepair.
“In any case, the potential to receive $2.3 million in external contribution for capital improvements at PTC could be favorable to the City, if the USTAPNW continues to provide comparable public access, takes full responsibility for all PTC operations, and participates in ongoing maintenance and future tennis system capital investments,” Biery’s memo said.
Those in favor of the deal say they’re eager to see the facility upgraded. Others say USTA could bring more inclusivity to local tennis, noting the organization has been lauded for its adaptive programming for people with disabilities.
“When municipal budgets are contracting, how rare is the opportunity for a third party to both unburden the city of a budget liability and revitalize an asset that could be one of the crown jewels of its renowned Parks system?” Portlander Scott Pennington wrote in public testimony to the City Council earlier this month.
Others are skeptical, worrying the USTA deal would result in higher prices and unwanted changes. One person even started a petition calling to “stop the USTA takeover of the Portland Tennis Center,” which has garnered nearly 600 signatures.
Portlander Parish Burns elaborated on these concerns in written testimony to City Council ahead of this year’s budget discussions, urging the city to “ensure commitments are in place to maintain access for average middle-income adults.”
Burns said the tennis center is special not just because of its accessible prices, but because it offers extensive open play time for people to participate in actual tennis matches, not just drills.
“Open play is critical to developing my game and keeping me fit. It provides the opportunity to practice for league matches with potential partners and enables point play with serving,” Parish wrote. “I bring up the format of programming out of concern that PTC will be run similarly to Vancouver Tennis Center, with high-cost drills and a dominance of programming on nights and weekends, when most full-time workers are looking to access open courts for practice games.”
During a work session on PP&R’s budget, some councilors noted constituent concerns that the USTA might not honor existing discounted rates for low-income residents, which have allowed many Portlanders to get involved with parks and recreation activities, including tennis.
City staff say they are prioritizing financially accessible tennis programming during their talks with the USTA. The USTA PNW declined to comment on future rates, or any other topic, when the Mercury reached out via email.
Courting private partners
Councilor Ryan’s interest in the USTA deal is representative of a larger belief that the city should embrace support from the private sector. Ryan has long been a staunch supporter of public-private partnerships, especially within the parks bureau. He sees the strategy as a common-sense approach, especially considering the consistent budget and maintenance issues PP&R has faced.
Last fall, Ryan was the only City Council member to speak out against the ballot measure to renew and increase the levy to support Portland’s parks system. In a message outlining his opposition for the levy renewal, Ryan said PP&R leaves “private money untapped” and is therefore “missing opportunities for millions of dollars.” The implication was that, if PP&R pursued more public-private partnerships, Portlanders wouldn’t have to pay as much for parks.
“When we’re trying to be creative on how we move forward, parks is definitely the area where we have the most opportunity to think out of the box,” Ryan said at a budget work session last spring. “I would hate for us to squander and dismiss a willing partner that’s at the table.”
Ryan insists the PTC deal is not a “total takeover” or privatization scheme. But how much private money can flow into the public parks system before they’re no longer public? Some are wary of the city sliding down a slippery slope of abandoning its public facilities.
“I am putting myself on notice that I am not going to go along with a broader privatization scheme to transfer existing parks assets into the private sector,” Councilor Mitch Green said during a City Council conversation about another public-private partnership last December. “I understand that there are some cost savings associated with that, but it comes at the expense of union jobs and public goods.”
Tyler Pell, editor of the local newsletter Portland Tennis Courterly, wrote to the City Council earlier this year urging them against the USTA deal. Pell highlighted Portland’s “tradition of independent tennis culture,” which has “produced entrepreneurs, independent tennis clubs, coaches, and nonprofit organizations that serve this community in organic and responsive ways.”
“Concentrating control of public tennis facilities under one national entity will undermine that ecosystem and narrow pathways for local leadership and grassroots community,” Pell wrote. “No doubt that the city could make money selling off the Rose Garden to 1-800-FLOWERS, allowing Barnes & Noble to take over the library, and handing off the water bureau to Dasani, but that doesn’t make it a good idea for people who live here.”
The city is expected to continue hashing out specifics of the deal with USTA through the summer.
