Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson held a press conference this morning formally announcing his MLS intentions and I for one am solidly behind him. Not that my opinion carries any weight in the real world but there you go. Also, I enjoy pandering to the Timbers Army constituency (hey, Seattle loves Ives so I'm not too concerned about upsetting Jet City).
Anyway, they've launched an official website --which is where I nicked the glorious image above from-- and there are several articles out there detailing the day's proceedings and price tags, some local and some national. Another interesting bit out there is a play-by-play from the press conference; notice that Paulson omits St. Louis from the list of contender cities...slip of memory or is The 'Lou as over as Nelly's career?
8 comments:
I'm all for it so long as we don't have any gridiron lines on the pitch. From the website:
"The modifications required to make PGE Park soccer specific (permanent rectangular layout with seats on both sidelines) will greatly benefit Portland State University Football and high school football teams and their fans that will use the facility."
So long as MLS is the first priority (unlike New England, Giants Stadium, soon to be Seattle), I'm down with Portland.
@anonymous: The difference between those cities and Portland is that those are all NFL stadia with soccer tenants. PGE Park will be a soccer stadium with a college football tenant.
I share your trepidation about having gridiron lines on the pitch, but I don't think it will be an issue (this is my optimist's hat). Also I was at PGE last Sunday for the Timbers fan appreciation BBQ, and watched the field turf zamboni machine cleaning the lines off the field from the Saturday's Vikings game, and it seems to work pretty well, the lines were definitely erased.
can we get portland in already
Ryan Nelson's career is alive and well with Blackburn :-p
Hey Seattle loves you too. Ives doesn't post pics of girls for our non-soccer enjoyment. Thanks for everything!
They need to be let in the league ASAP. To me, it's all about the fans. Not just that they're there, but that they're loud and create a great atmosphere. Portland has proved that. Montreal/St. Louis hasn't. So Portland should be let in pronto. Not to mention we need a green team and a circle crest in the league.
The MLS goes from April through November (including the playoffs), so even if we have to deal with pointyball lines (which I sincerely hope we don't, Paulsen's the one paying for this damn thing anyway) it would only interfere for the last two-three months of the season. Admittedly, the prospect sucks, but I'm willing to compromise for my timbers.
RCTID!!
Every Timbers fan and Portland citizen should get behind the renovation of PGE Park. Soccer can help bring our city to international prominence, like no other. It would benefit many and relatively cost little compared to what other major cities spend. Please everyone mail the City staff and get on-board.
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