News Portland City Council has waded through a number of topics this morning and afternoon, after its marathon session last night on the topic of renaming 39th Avenue for Cesar E. Chavez. Mayor Sam Adams referred a proposal to give a 10-year tax break to a new housing complex back to his office Commissioner Nick Fish's office. A handful of neighbors from North Portland had testified against the proposal ...   More

News The $31 million revamp of PGE Park, which will allow Major League Soccer to begin play there in 2011 and force the Portland Beavers to find a new baseball home, was approved Thursday by the City Council. The vote on the resolution (PDF) authorizing the city's term sheet (or as Mayor Sam Adams put it, the "basic concepts and shape" of the deal with more definitive details to come) with Merritt ...   More

News ...   More

News Soccer America has conducted a very comprehensive and worth-reading interview with Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber. Garber addresses questions about reasons for optimism about MLS (the league's expansion and the building of soccer-friendly stadiums, both of which include Portland) and reasons for concern (declining attendance league-wide this year — a drop experienced by other ...   More

News Portland's tentative deal with Merritt Paulson to bring Major League Soccer to PGE Park, a deal City Council approved July 23, expires today. The deadline —which had moved from Sept. 1 initially to Oct. 1— to negotiate all the details of the final financial agreement has now been extended until December or January, when construction was to begin on the renovation project, according ...   More

News A preliminary design for a remodeled PGE Park went before the City of Portland's Design Commission on Sept. 17, even as financial negotiations between Portland and Merritt Paulson stalled. That design (pictured above) calls for a Providence Health & Services rehabilitation center at the stadium's southeast corner on Southwest 18th Avenue. The Design Commission expects new drawings Nov. ...   More

News Here's an intriguing piece of soccer-related news this rainy, October morning in Portland: Major League Soccer is considering switching its schedule from March-October to August-May. The move would align MLS with the rest of the world's soccer schedule. But it does raise two questions as Portland prepares to refurbish PGE Park to be ready for MLS by 2011: 1) Would Portland's fan base borrow ...   More

News The Oregonian's story today about Merritt Paulson's effort to bring minor-league baseball to Beaverton included a whopper of a comment from Paulson. At the same time he's trying to build a baseball stadium in Beaverton for his Triple-A Beavers, Paulson's working with Portland officials to renovate PGE Park for Major League Soccer by 2011. Here's the relevant passage [emphasis mine]: At Tuesday ...   More

News Last month, I posted a piece about whether Major League Soccer would ever consider switching its current March-though-October regular season schedule to an August-through-May schedule. Last night, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Portland Timbers/Beavers owner Merritt Paulson were interviewed separately on 95.5 The Game's "Strong At Night" and the subject of scheduling came up during this interview ...   More

News Portland City Council tomorrow morning will consider whether to change the zoning code to allow limited office space at PGE Park. The proposed change is part of an effort to bring a sports medicine clinic, sponsored by Providence Health & Services, to the stadium to support Merritt Paulson's new Major League Soccer team when it begins play in 2011. Here's the ordinance [PDF]. Updated on ...   More