It is expensive, which is the whole "major league" bit. If you want to be taken seriously as a pro sport, you have to act like one and treat fans appropriately. That means a good stadium, a good crowd experience, good teams to play against. The Timbers owner paid a $40 million franchise fee to get into the MLS and then has shared costs in renovating the stadium. There was the usual debate back and forth about whether using city funds to help subsidize this franchise is a good idea or not, especially since we aren't quite done paying for the last stadium renovation. I have mixed feelings on the subject as a tax payer and soccer fan but overall I thought it was fairly responsibly done. Portland is also the biggest city in the country with only a single pro sports franchise (NBA), so that factored into the decision some.
Judah On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 2:20 PM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > Seems like a costly requirement. Even a small 18,000 seat stadium has > got to be pretty ass-pensive to build. > > On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 4:24 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> All new MLS teams are required to have soccer specific stadiums as >> part of the franchise process and existing teams have all been >> upgrading. One of the things they found as costly mistakes in the >> early years was that stadiums not designed for soccer just kind of >> produced a lousy experience. They weren't the right shape, they had >> too many or too few seats, it just wasn't conducive to enjoying a >> match and consequently, the teams suffered. When teams started >> building stadiums that we designed for the sport, they found that fans >> enjoyed it and showed up. A bright light went off over organizers >> heads and that became a big point for the MLS. I think that Columbus >> might have been the first MLS soccer-specific stadium, but I don't >> recall for sure. >> >> In the case of Portland, we're renovating and redesigning an existing >> facility (PGE Park) and evicting the AAA baseball team. There were >> plans for the AAA team to play elsewhere in town but that has been >> caught with some hangups, so their future is uncertain at the moment. >> The park is pretty old but the upside to that is that it is centrally >> located, right downtown, so it's got great lightrail service right to >> the stadium. They are planning on reworking the field layout and add >> in something like 6,000 more seats. Last I recall, I think they had >> decided on a regular capacity of about 18,000 and a special game >> capacity of about 22,000. >> >> Judah >> >> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Medic <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I'm pretty sure BMO field is used exclusively for TFC games. >>> >>> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 3:28 PM, G Money <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 2:23 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> > >>>> > I guess that Portland is just really a soccer city. We average almost >>>> > 10,000 per game for our USL team. The Timbers are moving up to the MLS >>>> > next year and I suspect that they'll be able to sell out the 20,000 >>>> > seats on a regular basis. >>>> > >>>> >>>> Kansas City is building a soccer-only stadium to house our MLS KC Wizards. >>>> It's my understanding that they will be the only MLS team to have their own >>>> facility...I think....??? (Unless Portland's arena is soccer-only). >>>> >>>> I don't really know if KC is a soccer city or not, but we support the >>>> Wizards pretty well, and on any given summer evening, our parks are >>>> littered >>>> with organized pick-up soccer games. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:322163 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
