Which Beaver has a stadium? Which Timber has a website?

Has there been a "professional" soccer team in America that has yet turned a profit WITHOUT financial subsidies from the town where teams have located? None.

Has your "sports correspondent" ever attended a Timbers match or gone to the University of Portland to watch the national champion women's teams or the men's teams which have produced national team players? Has he attended the US Women's National Teams matches at PGE Park, or the two Women's World Cups that were played there? Can he tell you anything about the original NASL Timbers and the sorts of crowds to which they played?

No?

Then he has no business 'scoffing' at anything relating to Portland soccer.

The Mercury: where cluelessness is a badge of professional honor!

Take the blinders off "sports correspondent" Ezra Ace Caraeff. oh and do some research too. This city is home to a premier soccer university in U of P along with the Timbers which DO turn a profit unlike other soccer franchises in america.

Dare you to take a match in at Merlo or PGE sometime. You'll learn real quick why the moniker Soccer City USA is used in regards to Portland.

RCTID

Why would "soccer Stars" park their cars in Lents if their games are held at PGE Park? Get a fucking clue.

Your caption indicates that the "soccer Stars" (sic) will be using a parking lot in Lents, but your story says the Timbers would stay downtown. Which is it?

Also, the link to soccercityusa.com isn't to the team's website (www.portlandtimbers.com) but rather to a fan site.

But other than that, most of the facts here seem to check out.....

We should all be ashamed that we wasted part of our valuable time reading this.

Get a clue before you write something next time.

Charles Paugh - you should check your facts son. In fact in recent years the trend towards professional soccer teams turning a profit has increased greatly. Starting with our home town Portland Timbers who have turned a profit in the least two years and attendance is UP 23% this year despite the team not doing well.

LA, Chicago, Houston and Toronto all turned profits last year in MLS.

I hate people who spout nonsense as "fact" without, you know, actually CHECKING the facts.

Oh and Ezra - please come to a Timbers match. I have several extra tickets over the next couple of matches and would be happy to serve as your guide.

This article, and your ridiculous quote from your "sports correspondent" were clearly from people who have never been to a Timbers match.
Check one out sometime and then you'll see how much of a waste of interweb space this article has been.
Portland IS Soccer City USA.

Rose City Til I Die!

My family and I live on 92nd, right by the stadium grounds and we're actually looking forward to the prospect of having regular summertime entertainment within walking distance. This will be great for lents, aside from some minor traffic inconveniences, because it will attract activity and services, while doing a lot for the property values of my home and my neighbors.

So we're all pretty much all for it in Lents save for one really loud NIMBY - what is your beef?

You idiots.

If any city is Soccer City USA, it's Portland. More Portland products are playing in the world's top soccer leagues than players from any other metro area.

Plus Timbers player Taka Suzuki was voted by Portlanders as Portland's best Athlete over Blazer's star Brandon Roy in Willamette Week's public poll.

You guys, including your dumbass sports correspondent, just don't seem to be all that much in touch with the city.

Maybe because you are owned and run by that rag 'The Stranger' from Seattle. Go sip your lattes ironically you stupid fucks.

as much as i love reading through the mercury, this is the biggest piece of garbage i have ever read from an independent publication. i would expect something like this from the ww, but not from pm. a little more research would have shown what the timbers army faithful have known for months. renovation of pge would cost around $35 million. the new park at lents would be around $50 million. but one thing you left out, is that merritt paulson(arguably the best owner this club has seen) will shell out the entire $50 million it would cost to move the timbers to mls.

as for mr. caraeff, don't be so ignorant. the timbers not only consistently draw more fans each game than any other usl-1 club, but also more than most mls clubs. if that's not reason enough to be "soccer city u.s.a.", then i don't know what is. don't make yourself out to be such a sports "authority" when you can't give an unbiased opinion of ALL sports. why don't you go watch some pointyball and leave the football(yes, REAL football) to people who know what they're talking about.

You idiots.

If any city is Soccer City USA, it's Portland. More Portland products are playing in the world's top soccer leagues than players from any other metro area.

Plus Timbers player Taka Suzuki was voted by Portlanders as Portland's best Athlete over Blazer's star Brandon Roy in Willamette Week's public poll.

You guys, including your dumbass sports correspondent, just don't seem to be all that much in touch with the city.

Maybe because you are owned and run by that rag 'The Stranger' from Seattle. Go sip your lattes ironically you stupid fucks.

Re: "Why would "soccer Stars" park their cars in Lents if their games are held at PGE Park?"

Fixed. Baseball fans would park there.

mercury has a sports reporter? I thought the whole paper was put together a vb meme script.

Dear Sarah Mirk,

I used to like reading your clever missives until I read this terribly misinformed keyboard-mashing you just posted. I have nothing else to add that many of my more articulate comrades have already said. Anyway, good luck with everything.

Misinformed, poorly assembled facts, a tinge of "what's popular to hate on today", and a complete and udder lack of professionalism in your journalistic "integrity".


Fail to an epic degree.

Anyone ever eavesdropped on a debate between two twits that you just grate your teeth at because neither of the two have much of a clue/grasp what they're talking about? Yeah...I feel like I just walked past that reading this article.

Portland & the surrounding areas have a HUGE soccer fanbase. Look around you.

& if I'm not mistaken the Portland Timbers have a higher average attendance than the Portland Beavers, which also rivals the numbers of some MLS teams.

You idiots.

If any city is Soccer City USA, it's Portland. More Portland products are playing in the world's top soccer leagues than players from any other metro area.

Plus Timbers player Taka Suzuki was voted by Portlanders as Portland's best Athlete over Blazer's star Brandon Roy in Willamette Week's public poll.

You guys, including your dumbass sports correspondent, just don't seem to be all that much in touch with the city.

Maybe because you are owned and run by that rag 'The Stranger' from Seattle. Go sip your lattes ironically you stupid fucks.

Bad, bad idea. No parking and no already-built MAX line there means crowds out the wazoo, and the Beavers crowd don't generally linger around PGE Park.

If Paulson wants a team, have Nike or Adidas build a stadium as part of a development in the suburbs, and leave PGE Park as it is for the Beavers.

GARBAGE GARBAGE GARBAGE! your story makes no sense, your facts are no were right.

"Plus Timbers player Taka Suzuki was voted by Portlanders as Portland's best Athlete over Blazer's star Brandon Roy in Willamette Week's public poll. "

Come on now, we have the biggest fan base in our soccer already and we are not even in MLS YET, We have the biggest rivalry game which is viewed more by people who are just watching their first timber game. rather than any old beaver game. Soccer city i think so, we bring more in attendance than we do Beavers, which means more money, so what if the beavers have to move, let em we bring the money we bring the attendance and WHEN WE GO PRO i hope you shove this article in your arse

I really hope Alvarez posts again.

To clarify my comment, I don't believe there really is a "Soccer City U.S.A." anywhere. Portland, Charleston, or even Rochester (Gooooo Rhinos!).

If the Timbers (Finnegan, I'll gladly take you up on that offer. I'll even buy the beer.) fanbase can support a MLS team without dipping into the city's pocket, I'm all for it. I don't hate soccer, football, pointyball, American pointyball, or even European pointyball (Gooooo Hamburg Sea Devils!). I love all sports, especially those who don't use the crutch of public funding.

If that can happen, I'll gladly support the new team, especially if it's the relocated Columbus Crew. I love their logo.

It appears that the expert "Sports correspondent" is also your music critic (according to his profile).

Cracker Jack publication you're running here!

Ezra,
Show up to the Bullpen, the bar across the MAX from PGE, before the game at around 6:00 tonight and introduce yourself. I promise you will have one of the greatest evenings possible when it comes to local sporting events. Finnegan said he'd get you a ticket and, if not, we will work something out for you.
I am Portland born and raised and have long been a reader of the Portland Mercury. From planning a night out to getting a unique slant on local issues, I often enjoy this local periodical. It has saddened me to read this article knowing that your crew is truely missing out on one of P-Town's strongest collections of civic minded individuals found in the Timbers Army.
I hope to see you and any of your compadres attend the match tonight. You really will have a great time and can give you some good info for a potential article. (Nothing like doing research with a pint in your hand, eh?)
Rose City 'Til I Die

Finn pls. don't actually bring this idiot to a game, any journalist with the slightest hint of curiosity could have dug up the necessary information to request a guide, or take in a game on his own.

He would have likely been met by many a suitor willing to happily escort him to a game to do some investigative reporting prior to posting this garbage.

It's people like this that damage the entire effort to bring MLS to PDX and educate those who truly didn't know "about the Timbers" and why they are good for the community- Far too many people don't take the time to look past what they see in print to assume their point of view.

This guy clearly prefers to force his own tinted agenda on people, rather than providing unbiased and fact based reporting. Loser. I'll buy your beer if you don't take him. (You know where to find me to collect.)

This guy can root for the Flounders up in Sh*ttle, he should get along with all the tech dorks that wanna support SSFC now "Cause they like the new X-Box logo".

This post almost makes me miss Phil Busse. Remember the story he did on going to a Timbers game? There were about 10 factual errors in a 500 word piece.

Nice to see the Mercury still being the Mercury! Only good for my cat's litterbox!

Maybe Los Angeles?!? Way to go, 'Ace', you're quite the 'sports correspondent'!

Yes the blog post is horribly inaccurate and half assed but so are half the comments. RJandT...you want to buy people beers for *not* bringing them to a game. They just need to be educated not told to piss off.

As far as not using public funding to build a stadium or renovate that's one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard. The costs involved here are minimal compared to any other major league stadium. There are plenty of ways to do this through bonds and other fees to pay for the stadium and all of them can work.

Plus...who has gone to a Beavers game and ever cared about the results? It's a team of almost made its and never weres. People only go on thirsty thursday for the frat party going on at the baseball games.

"I'll gladly support the new team, especially if it's the relocated Columbus Crew. I love their logo."
Ezra - moved to fvcking columbus then. this club is the Portland TIMBERS and that is not changing. I can guaranfvckintee that.

I have to agree with all the comments above. The lack of actual research or journalism that went into this article makes me question all of those other article's that Mirk's articles wrote about gentrification that I actually agreed with and enjoyed.

Seriously, I don't understand why the Mercury has had such an anti-Timbers stance over the years. The Timbers Army has the same demographics and political/social leanings as your readers, and the dollars and cents on the Beavers-to-Lents plan actually look promising, unlike most of the hair-brained ideas my beloved city government comes up with. Portland has an opportunity for a financially sound piece of urban renewal that also encourages Portland kitch in the MLS-level Portland Timbers.

Readers of the Portland Mercury, journalists at the Merc, please attend a Timbers Game, and see how loud and large our fervent fan base has become despite the shittiest season we've had in a while in a Mickey-Mouse level USL minor league. After attending a game or two, try and tell me that a minor investment in PGE Park and upgrading Lents wouldn't be worth the dime. This would solve two birds with one stone by giving the PDC a successful UR plan in Lents while strengthening the downtown area and branding Portland as a haven for soccer junkies, who as a whole seem to dovetail quite nicely with the various new and old communities (arriving latino/as, hipster-biking, europhiliac hippies, yuppies, suburban soccer mom-and-families) that make up the Portland metro.

And while Ezra's coverage of the Blazers was pretty decent, I challenge him to name even half of the teams in the MLS, let alone a handful of the allstars. Mercury! Your reader base are asking you to pay attention! Are you listening?!

no sports franchise has ever built a stadium without at least a tax break from the city or state in which the stadium was built. Fenway was 1/2 paid for by the commonwealth of Massachsetts in 1912. The New Yankees stadium needed $350 million worth of City and State backed bonds to finance construction.

Ezra might want PDX city funds to go to better causes, but please realize that PDX city funds were sunk into the Rose Garden, the Memorial Coliseum before that and every renovation PGE has ever had. To think that Stadia are ever built without public participation in some sense is poorly informed. Hate the idea of public funding, fine. Hate the Timbers for asking for it like they're the first, kindly f*ck off.

Ezra: "wankwankwankwankwankwankwankwank"

Eat a Dick in a Fire, You Clueless Twat

Timbers fans, die.

You are a fawking minor league football team in a mid-level city, stop taking yourself so seriously. Timbers games are were drunk fraternity boys go to drink and then later drive their cars into telephone poles. To romanticize your non-important team like this is retarded. Ezra, do not offer to buy them beer, or eat that "dick on fire".

Ezra: "If the Timbers fanbase can support a MLS team without dipping into the city's pocket, I'm all for it."

But as an educated sports correspondent, you also obviously know that no American team or stadium in any city or any league has ever been constructed without public money, and likely never will. Paulson realizes, as I'm sure you do too with that big journalistic/sports/civic brain of yours, that if there is ever going to be professional sports in any community, it's going to mean a balance between private and public support.

Gillette Stadium. The home of the New England Revolution and the Pats was privately funded by Robert Kraft. I think the state added some "infrastructure improvements" in the area surrounding it, but that is a huge stadium privately paid for. There are more, especially on the smaller level, but that was the first that came to mind.

Duh! Columbus plays in a private backed stadium as well.

http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/article/407

thisischris: "... infrastructure improvements... "

Ding, ding, ding! Winner. New England, Columbus, San Francisco, wherever else people say a stadium is privately funded... it's not, at least not entirely. "Dipping into the city's pocket" is always required on some financial level... that Columbus article even gave specifics about the public financing.

"Timbers games are were drunk fraternity boys go to drink and then later drive their cars into telephone poles."

I think you're getting Timbers fans confused with former Timbers goalkeepers. Easy mistake to make.

Or are you suggesting that people drink more at Timbers games than Beavers games? Bahahahaha. I need three beers before the first pitch to get through the snoozefest that is a Beavers baseball game.

Feel free to choke on S-C-O-T's huge nut sack while you try to remember what good journalism is.

RCTID!

Ever notice how that New England stadium is way out in the suburbs?

If you let the private investors have their way, they can build a stadium way out of town, charge you a bunch for parking while no paying for the externalities of traffic, congestion, air quality, etc.

If the city makes this investment in Lents and PGE Park, it ensures that the previous/concurrent investments in trimet will be effectively utilized, with light rail lines accessing PGE Park and eventually the Lents area. Furthermore, the city's investment in supporting the timbers and beavers in the inner city allows dollars to be pumped right back into local businesses in the form of the restaurant before the game or the hotel afterwards.

In a purely hypothetical situation, without the city of Portland's financial support, a theoretical MLS stadium could be built way out in far Gresham, Hillsboro, or Vancouver. Sure, it wouldn't cost the city or region a dime, directly. But we'd pay for increased road usage, poor air quality, and those pesky other costs that quickly add up. Plus, the atmosphere of a timbers or beavers game would be sorely diminished at Hillsboro stadium, and you'd likely not see as much return on investment in terms of ticket sales, etc.

Ezra - judging from the sheer number of comments I believe that a) this is indeed Soccer City USA and b) you have been owned pretty harsh here. Care to issue a retraction?

Never!

Well, actually I'm working with a member of the Timbers Army on a solution that will remedy this whole situation. Hopefully there will be an announcement on that front in a couple weeks. Maybe sooner. Or later.

If that doesn't work you can all take turns hacking at me with Timber Jim's rusty chainsaw. But, fair warning, I'm a bleeder.