I'm starting to get sick of the residents of Portland of where to put our AAA Beavers. We have a major owner who wants to bring a big time market to Portland and everyone is griping about where to relocated the minor league baseball team. The city of Portland has tried the 49 year old Memorial Coliseum site but people are outraged at this old building being torn down. Then the city tries Lents Park and then the residents are concerned about congestion and noise. Then that idea is shot down. So what sites do we have left? We can't use Portland Meadows by PIR because its still being used. and the Multnomah Greyhound Park at NE 223 Ave in Wood Village, OR is still being used. We allow the OHSU tram to be built with less opposition and press but a minor AAA ballpark creates more of a stur? Lets just move the AAA Beavers to Hillsboro, Gresham, or Vancouver WA, at this point because Portland residents can't make up their minds.
How about we leave the baseball team in the baseball stadium, and put soccer in Lents, Hillsboro, Gresham, or Vancouver WA? barfo
Because the owner knows that 7,000 + fans will show up for a Timbers game regardless to what day of the week compared to a Beavers game. I bet the Timbers vs MLS Sounders (U.S Open Cup tourney) will draw at least 10k fans on July 1, 2009 at PGE park. Merrit already has seats in place at PGE park for soccer whereas Beavers only draw about 5,200 fans per game (avg.) for baseball for the past 5 years. I have done stats before on this site and the Timbers marketbase is growing and the Beavers fanbase hasn't increased. Merrit knows where the money is at and the Beavers aren't cutting it.
Some things are more important than money. If soccer is such a hot draw, they'll be a hot draw somewhere else. barfo
Have you been to a Timbers game? The timbers army fanbase has grown gradually since 2005. Go to http://www.soccercityusa.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl And see what they talk about. They are dedicated fans. I don't see a forum setup for the AAA Beavers. Merrit must see $$ and fan support in the current situation with the Timbers. Its obviously going nowhere for the AAA beavers.
Agreed, the Beavers should go nowhere I don't dispute the timbers fans are dedicated. Perhaps they are even dedicated enough to drive to Lents. barfo
Exactly. We have a baseball stadium, it's been working for the past 80 years, why change it? Soccer comes to town, great! Build a soccer stadium. barfo
Portland is a soccer town, NOT baseball. I worked a couple baseball games last week and there couldn't have been more then 500 people at those games. Sad.
I'm not too high on the "build it and they will come" mentality. The Timbers are marginally supported as are the Beavers. I'm a devoted Timbers fan and I've sat thru some crowds of less than 5,000 on nice evenings. There's also a reason MSL failed here once before- a lack of fan support. As for me, I support the idea of replacing the Memorial Colliseum with a small bowl stadium that will hold around 15,000 initially and be expandable up to 25,000 or so and having the MSL team there as well as U. of Portland soccer, PSU football and HS football to include the state HS playoffs. We can call it the Memorial Colliseum as well. As for drawing another major league team here, I'd focus on hockey as we already have the RG.
The NASL folded because of teams overspending trying to keep up with the NY Cosmos. The Timbers NASL attendance was well above the league average, just as it is now in the USL1. PGE is the perfect size for MLS and 2-3 times bigger than what Paulson wants for the AAA Beavers. It's a lot cheaper to refurbish PGE Park for MLS/PSU and build a smaller right-sized baseball stadium than to build a separate soccer stadium.
Bring the Beavers to Hillsboro... I am for that. =) I'd take my fam to some games. Taking the fam to the Timbers game on the 1st of July too... should be awesome. I think sometimes we give in to the small majority of loudmouths. You will find this area has people who will protest ANYthing. They just like to protest. It is part of the weird Portland thing. Not saying it is horrible... just that their voice shouldn't be any greater than mine.
A) Because it's much cheaper to remodel PGE Park for soccer and to build a brand new AAA baseball stadium than it would be to scale down PGE Park to make it more intimate and suitable for AAA baseball and build a 20,000+ seat stadium in the burbs or anywhere else. and B) The blueprint for success in MLS is a centrally-located, downtown stadium. AAA baseball has proven it can and will work as a suburban recreation activity. I'd have loved for AAA baseball to stay in the central city. I thought the RQ was the perfect location, and then a bunch of architect assholes claimed that a moldy, underused glass and concrete box was somehow a masterpiece that should be given proper respect. And the city got scared. -Pop
It doesn't need to be scaled down for baseball. It was designed for AAA baseball. Agree with you on that. Saving the MC is absurd. barfo
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/aaaballparks.htm If you look at the link above, PGE Park has a higher capacity than any other stadium for AAA baseball. And by most accounts, significantly higher. And if you've ever been to a Beavers game recently, it's glaring how cavernous the stadium feels with all of those empty seats. I agree with the owner of the Beavers that it would be a much better draw if they were able to build a beautiful, scaled-down park with all the amenities. -Pop
Anyone remember when the PPS site or the old Post Office site were the places to build the MLB stadium? Why are those no longer in talks for the AAA stadium, which can then be upgraded WHEN we get MLB and stupid ideas like Lents are drawn up? http://www.oregonstadiumcampaign.com/stadium_concept.htm
This doesn't even make any sense. Some things are more important than money? Uh ok. Especially when it's not your money right? You can't just use that saying whenever you want you know?
How is it not my money? Last I looked taxpayers owned the stadium, and I seem to recall paying to renovate it just a few years ago. Building a new stadium will certainly involve some more of my tax dollars. Sure I can. Some things are more important than money. See, I did it again. barfo
