Portland Timbers (MLS) News

[ProTram]

Who owns the land between SE Salmon and SE Madison between I-5 and SE Water? Would that plot be big enough for a ballpark option? Maybe just barely.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by ProTram

Who owns the land between SE Salmon and SE Madison between I-5 and SE Water? Would that plot be big enough for a ballpark option? Maybe just barely.

That land is owned by the city I believe, but it is not big enough for even a minor league stadium.

[MightyAlweg]

So, um, whatever happened to this story? I can't seem to find any conclusion to this saga on The Oregonian website, or here.

This where I think we were at a few months ago... The Beaverton ballpark sit got canned. No other Portland location for a minor league ballpark was found or approved in '09. Henry Paulson has gone very quiet. And no construction has started on Civic Stadium to turn it into a soccer facility.

Is MLS still coming to Portland? Is Paulson or Mayor Adams still looking for a site somewhere else in Portland for baseball? Did this entire thing just collapse without anyone noticing? Or is everyone just taking a long winter's nap on this one and pretending it's not a pressing problem?

[twofiftyfive]

Originally Posted by MightyAlweg

So, um, whatever happened to this story? I can't seem to find any conclusion to this saga on The Oregonian website, or here.

This where I think we were at a few months ago... The Beaverton ballpark sit got canned. No other Portland location for a minor league ballpark was found or approved in '09. Henry Paulson has gone very quiet. And no construction has started on Civic Stadium to turn it into a soccer facility.

Is MLS still coming to Portland? Is Paulson or Mayor Adams still looking for a site somewhere else in Portland for baseball? Did this entire thing just collapse without anyone noticing? Or is everyone just taking a long winter's nap on this one and pretending it's not a pressing problem?

The renovation of PGE Park for MLS was decoupled from the issue of finding a place for the Beavers to play. MLS is still coming to Portland, but nobody knows where the Beavers will be.

[alexjon]

Has the novelty of moving the Beavers to Beaverton worn off yet?

[krudmonk]

Has the novelty of minor league baseball worn off yet? Thanks god the Timbers aren't hitched to that anymore. I'd hate to see the Practice Padres sink a great fanbase like the TA.

[urbanlife]

Yeah, last I had heard Vancouver might be now interested in taking the team with the new mayor coming into office...which not knowing much about Vancouver politics (or caring really, sorry 'couve) I can only guess that we will actually hear news about this once the new mayor takes office...so some time in January.

Though I wouldnt be surprised if Paulson has finally started to look outside of the metro for possible places to move the team, and I would find it hard to believe that those other cities looking to score a minor league team hasnt tried to contact him about that.

Personally I dont see why Paulson doesnt try to work with the MLS for a longer timetable to find a location for his team in a much more proper fashion than this "we need a new stadium deal yesterday" way he has been going. I dont see the MLS being so demanding that they would want only soccer stadiums for every new team the day they start. I dont see having the Beavers share the stadium for a year or two as being a huge problem for the league.

But either way, I would much rather see effort put into going after a MLB team to begin with, people like Paulson are just small potatoes that cities should not waste their time with.

[MightyAlweg]

Originally Posted by twofiftyfive

The renovation of PGE Park for MLS was decoupled from the issue of finding a place for the Beavers to play. MLS is still coming to Portland, but nobody knows where the Beavers will be.

Thank you! That helps get me up to speed.

[MightyAlweg]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

But either way, I would much rather see effort put into going after a MLB team to begin with, people like Paulson are just small potatoes that cities should not waste their time with.

I couldn't agree more. Not only is Paulson a very small potato (just a french fry really) in the American profesional sports industry, but he comes off as a bit of a shifty snake oil salesman who doesn't quite have it all together. If the mayor didn't just happen to be a soccer fan, I doubt Paulson would have gained as much traction as he did in 2008-09.

I would hate for Portland's business and government leadership to be too tightly associated with a guy like Mr. Paulson. It would only damage Portland's chance of landing a real big-league franchise in the new decade.

[PacificNW]

Wow....have you guys actually met the guy? Pretty harsh..

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by PacificNW

Wow....have you guys actually met the guy? Pretty harsh..

Speaking for myself, no, but then again, I wasnt making a comment about the person's character, but rather stating a fact that his is just a minor league team owner and I have to agree with Alweg when it comes to the MLS point. If Adams wasnt such a soccer fan, the city probably would not of put as much of an effort in the deal. I am personally happy Portland is getting a MLS team and I have no problem with Paulson running it...but Paulson is not the guy that will bring MLB to Portland, unless he is an investor in an organization that is trying to bring the city a MLB team.

[PacificNW]

Don't dismiss him too quickly....he does have connections along with more than a pocket full of money....Btw, the former mayor had no interest in supporting/attracting any pro sports teams to Portland....



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Paulson

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by PacificNW

Don't dismiss him too quickly....he does have connections along with more than a pocket full of money....Btw, the former mayor had no interest in supporting/attracting any pro sports teams to Portland....



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Paulson

Like I said, I dont see him bringing a MLB team to this city and I dont see him doing it alone or being the lead person to make it happen....but then again I could be wrong...he is much richer than you or I.

Yeah, Potter was definitely a waste of time for the city as Mayor, I think we would of been better off with the other guy that lost to him. Which is why I am hoping that Adams either wins a second term or someone else who actually has an idea of how to make the city move forward and might have an interest in bringing a MLB team to the city becomes mayor.

[urbanlife]

Speak of the devil, though not a single word about the Beavers is mentioned.

Portland Timbers reveal design plans for PGE Park
By Rachel Bachman, The Oregonian
December 21, 2009, 10:15PM

PGE Park's field will slide toward home plate, snug in the crook of the stadium's grandstand. A larger video screen will appear against the Multnomah Athletic Club, along with a standing-room/stage area. Most notably, covered seats and a club level will mushroom from the stadium's nearly empty east side, ushering scarf-snapping fans to within a throw-in of the sideline.

Details of the stadium's $31million retrofit for the Portland Timbers' move to Major League Soccer in 2011, released Monday to The Oregonian, show a higher-capacity, more upscale venue that strives to retain its bandbox charm.

Spectators will line all four edges of the field, rather than two, and passersby still will glimpse games through the fence along Southwest 18th Avenue. The result of the renovation, scheduled to start in January and finish by spring 2011, will be "as unique as they come in the soccer world," Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said.

The biggest transformation will be the stadium's east side. A public plaza at the corner of 18th Avenue and Morrison Street will form the main entrance, extend toward the field and include a team store open even on non-gamedays.

A sit-down restaurant will serve 1,444 midfield seats, a community meeting room will be built next to the restaurant and three group and family decks will be built for events and extra seating. A cover will jut over most of the roughly 4,000 east-section seats, echoing the existing wooden overhangs in the 83–year-old stadium. Additional restrooms and concession stands will serve the new seating areas.

Also, a privately funded, 12,000-square-foot sports rehabilitation clinic will be built on the east side.

Stadium capacity will increase to about 20,000 -- 24,000 including a north auxiliary area that will be closed for most games -- from its current total of more than 16,000 for USL first-division soccer, Paulson said.

The renovation details come with a concession: Though hard-core soccer fans wanted the Timbers' re-vamped home to include grass, the playing surface almost certainly will be artificial turf, Paulson said.

The stadium's reality is rainy springs and falls, and the need to accommodate the Portland State football team, high school games and other events. Crisscrossing field lines for football and soccer when those seasons overlap would be far more difficult to manage on grass, Paulson said.

"We're going to have days where we play soccer right after football games, and on a rainy day, the field would be utterly destroyed," he said.

The new surface will be a FieldTurf product being designed for soccer that's being billed as more forgiving than grass, Paulson said. He added that the team will practice on grass fields when necessary, and that for special events the team will install temporary grass trays on the field.

PGE Park -- which also has been called Multnomah Stadium and Civic Stadium -- has undergone two previous major renovations, in 1983 and in 2001. The last and most ambitious, a $40 million makeover the city is still paying off, was tailored for Triple-A baseball's Beavers. That team will play in PGE Park through 2010 but then faces an uncertain fate.

The upcoming renovation focuses on the Timbers, in part because MLS strongly encourages teams to play in soccer-specific venues. The City of Portland and a group headed by Paulson are paying for the renovation, though financing details have yet to be finalized. But the group is not working with a blank check: 4,000 auxiliary seats high above the north end zone will remain largely unimproved to save money.

Bill Crockett, Principal and National Director of Sports for design firm AECOM Ellerbe Becket, is working on the redesign. He said PGE Park is a rarity in the sport: a classic urban stadium. Most U.S. soccer stadiums are suburban or were built much more recently, Crockett said.

PGE is the ideal template, with much of the stadium built below street level to ease the movement of spectators, he said. The soccer renovation will give it a "sense of definition and enclosure," Crockett said.

The idea, for Portland and the MLS, is to keep venues modestly sized as pro soccer in the U.S. grows. PGE Park promises more leg room and room to move, but with a closer view of the action.

"It's going to be very intimate," Paulson said.

Renderings can be found with the actual article. Feel free to post them here if anyone wants, I dont have the time to do it at the moment. They look pretty cool, and will definitely be an intimate park because of the renovation. Though I am really gonna miss the old scoreboard on the east end.

[MarkDaMan]

from Oregonlive

[2oh1]

"Spectators will line all four edges of the field, rather than two, and passersby still will glimpse games through the fence along Southwest 18th Avenue."

LOVE IT! That's my favorite thing about PGE Park. It just feels so much like a part of the neighborhood. I'd hate to see PGE Park closed off the way typical sports venues are.

[RoseCtyRoks]

Thursday, January 21, 2010, 2:12pm PST
City, Paulson finalize PGE Park deal
Portland Business Journal

http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/01/18/daily41.html


The city and Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson have reached a deal to renovate PGE Park in order to accommodate a Major League Soccer team. The deal will go to City Council next Wednesday.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams said the city’s final agreement with Peregrine LLC, the owner of the Portland Timbers and Paulson's Triple A Portland Beavers baseball team, would bring “immediate construction jobs to Portland and continuing revenue, visitors and vital spending to Portland’s central city.”

The $31 million project still needs City Council approval.

“I’m confident that this agreement will serve Portlanders now and for years to come,” Adams said in a news release. “We will put construction workers back to work right away, and in the long-term, MLS represents a smart investment in Portland’s future success. Building on the Northwest’s long-standing soccer heritage, we can bring Portlanders together around another great sports team.”

Under the agreement, the team wouldn’t be allowed to relocate for 25 years, or the length of the city bond terms sold for the project.

The agreement includes a clause calling for Peregrine to indemnify the city from any claim from the Pacific Coast League related to the Triple-A Portland Beavers not being able to use the stadium following the 2010 season. The clause could leave the door open for the Beavers to leave town.

It essentially puts any legal onus on Paulson, as opposed to the city, should the league object to the Beavers' relocation, said Ty Kovatch, Commissioner Randy Leonard's chief of staff.

Paulson declined to comment about the deal.

Along with the MLS Timbers, Portland State University’s football team will also use the stadium.

Among the deal’s terms, the Paulson family will guarantee stadium license fee and user fees for the first seven years of the operating agreement. At closing, Peregrine will pre-pay all such fees for years eight to 25 of the agreement.

Peregrine will also pay any cost overruns.

The funding breakdown:


Peregrine will pay $8 million in cash toward the project.
Peregrine would pay $11.1 million in prepaid license and user fees
The city would pay $11.9 million from its Spectator Fund cash and bond proceeds. That share could be reduced if the city can save contractors money in Systems Development Charges.
Peregrine would also pay a fixed rate of 7 percent of its revenue.
Peregrine would be responsible for the stadium’s operations and maintenance.

The city’s contribution to the multi-use, LEED Silver certified stadium will be financed primarily through private investment by the Paulsons and by revenue from sports spectators, as recommended by the Major League Soccer Task Force.

The city’s liability is limited through numerous personal guarantees from the Paulson family, which ensure that the city will receive projected revenue even if the new MLS franchise or the league fails. Specifically, the Paulsons have made personal guarantees of operating revenue for 25 years and that the team will stay in the city for at least 25 years.

[2oh1]

Very exciting! ...but is this at all realistic of a timeline?

...from the Oregonian article higher up the page: "The result of the renovation, scheduled to start in January and finish by spring 2011, will be "as unique as they come in the soccer world," Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said."

On the news tonight, they again mentioned MLS in PGE Park beginning in 2011. I'm surprised that the Beavers will be playing there again in 2010 with MLS beginning in 2011. Can that much work be done in such a short time?

And still no word on where The Beavers will go next. Interesting. God would I love it if they somehow found a new home in the city core. A new home that could someday become a home in Portland for MLB. Dreaming... I know. I'm thrilled to see MLS along the MAX line in downtown, but I'll be sad to lose baseball along the MAX in downtown.

I wonder how attendance at MLS games here will compare to MLS games in Seattle. This is exciting news indeed.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

Very exciting! ...but is this at all realistic of a timeline?

...from the Oregonian article higher up the page: "The result of the renovation, scheduled to start in January and finish by spring 2011, will be "as unique as they come in the soccer world," Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said."

On the news tonight, they again mentioned MLS in PGE Park beginning in 2011. I'm surprised that the Beavers will be playing there again in 2010 with MLS beginning in 2011. Can that much work be done in such a short time?

And still no word on where The Beavers will go next. Interesting. God would I love it if they somehow found a new home in the city core. A new home that could someday become a home in Portland for MLB. Dreaming... I know. I'm thrilled to see MLS along the MAX line in downtown, but I'll be sad to lose baseball along the MAX in downtown.

I wonder how attendance at MLS games here will compare to MLS games in Seattle. This is exciting news indeed.

The major section of work that will be constructed at PGE will be the seats along the east side, which I am guessing they will be starting to construct the day after the Beavers play their last game there and will probably be working seven days a week, but it is definitely doable...I dont remember, but the renderings didnt look like the east side was all that complicated of a section to build...but I could be wrong.

I too and excited about this and I think Portland is definitely a great city for MLS to expand it...the Timbers Army alone is proof why this team will be a great improvement for MLS. Though, being a baseball fan, I will definitely be sad to lose the Beavers and I too have been wondering what will happen with them, especially since Vancouver has also said they could not take the team...which means just about every city is out, except for maybe Clackamas, and I dont think they were that interested to begin with.

I am guessing the Beavers will move, I wouldnt be surprised if Portland gets another minor league team a few years later when things are looking better for the city, though I would much rather see the city and state pursuing a MLB team or be trying to get MLB to expand the AL, which is currently short two teams compared to the NL, and Portland would be a great fit for the AL and give Seattle some regional competition....I guess one can dream about something like that, seeing it actually happen is another story.

[PacificNW]

City Approves PGE Park Renovation


http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/02/01/daily22.html