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Portland Gets Serious About MLS Expansion

Now that Miami is out of the MLS expansion race, it is probably a good time to take another look at the remaining US candidates. One of the cities that is making a big push for a new franchise is Portland. The man behind the bid is currently the owner of the Portland Beavers AAA baseball franchise and the Portland Timbers USL soccer team. His name is Merritt Paulson. Yes, that Paulson. There is little question about his financial ability to operate a MLS franchise. His father, the former Treasury secretary, Goldman Sachs boss and bailout masetermind could probably buy all of MLS himself and surely could finance the Portland effort.

Paulson the younger asked Portland to pony up $60 million to renovate PGE Park, the home of the Beavers, and to build a new stadium for the Timbers/MLS franchise (presumably also to be called the Timbers after the USL team is folded into the MLS team, much the same way as happened in Seattle). After a contentious City Council meeting last night, the City agreed to do just that. However, the Council vote also left the project about $15 million short of the needed funds. Paulson vowed to press forward but indicated he wasn't putting up the extra money. He said that he had already committed more money than most owners in the country.
"I'm on the table above and beyond," he said. "I challenge people to find a better deal in any city."

Solid backing from the city will certainly strengthen Portland's bid. The league has expressed some concerns about the ownership of the group attempting to land a franchise for St. Louis the other remaining American bid. St.Lous has a stadium deal in place and just yesterday Anheuser InBev offered a location for a new stadium.

The other two remaining bids are Canadian and the Toronto Globe and Mail is reporting that a franchise will be awarded to Vancouver. That franchise will be granted to Greg Kerfoot, the owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL, along with the Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash. Like Seattle, the Whitecaps will be folded into the MLS team, which will be called the Whitecaps. The team would play in a renovated BC Place, the home of the BC Lions of the CFL, a stadium with a retractable roof.

The remaining bid comes from Ottawa and is backed by Eugene Melnyk, owner of the NHL's Ottawa Senators. The Ottawa City Council has to pick between two competing stadium proposals for that bid to move forward and that decision is likely to take several months.

It would seem that with Vancouver selected, the Portland bid is likely to be selected soon. A Portland, Seattle Vancouver corridor establishes instant Pacific Northwest rivalries that league and TV officials would love to see. It would be great for fans who would have easy travels among the cities. The bids are by far the strongest and bring financially strong owners to MLS with some background in and affinity for soccer.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).