Portland Timbers (MLS) News - Page 4

JordanL · #61 Posted **Mar 12, 2009, 6:30 AM**

Wow... I didn't even think of this site for a stadium...

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...60590b41d54221

Joeplayer19 · #62 Posted **Mar 12, 2009, 7:52 AM**

hey look I can make a map that will never happen 2

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...,0.019312&z=16

twofiftyfive · #63 Posted **Mar 12, 2009, 3:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JordanL

Wow... I didn't even think of this site for a stadium...

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...60590b41d54221

That was one of the proposed sites for a major league baseball stadium when there was a chance the Expos would move here. It would have been cool, but I never thought it was realistic to expect Pearl residents to put up with 40,000 fans 81 times a year.

EastPDX · #64 Posted **Mar 12, 2009, 4:52 PM**

LOL!

The US Postal Site will go residential/commercial/employment/park development. That site was a dream not based on facts (Pearl resident issues mentioned above, transportation restrictions were the big two). Some of us have said this for years.

Rose Quarter has always been the prime location for a AAA ballpark to be upgraded to MLB standards in the future. (At least in my mind.)

It is just going to be great to have two stadiums that are built around the sports they serve!!! And that means three sports (Soccer, American Football, and Baseball). I vote that people are seeing the Vision for PGE Park and the Rose Quarter and are getting on the bandwagon.

We have for years wondered about the footprint at the MC for the minor league ballpark (let along big enough for a MLB stadium footprint). We know that a stadium will fit in fine at the PPS site (PPS/Blanchard site is just North of Broadway).

Even Sam Adams mentioned that site as the other site at the Rose Quarter for a AAA stadium yesterday during the council meeting. The logic and reason will follow shortly that the MC site will be considered too small and the Blazers don't want a AAA Stadium that close to the Rose Garden. Sooooo, we move the AAA stadium to the Blanchard Site and the PPS gets what they want too (they move their maintenance facility at Blanchard to a more logically location to the East).

So the MC could still be a HSR Station/Hostel/Museum/Pub/etc. (Memorial Station?). I am so happy that the City is thinking outside the box on all of this and taking a long-term vision on the RQ and helping to make it happen one step at a time.

Ep (Big Boomer at OSC site)

pdxf · #65 Posted **Mar 12, 2009, 5:45 PM**

I love the 'cascade of benefits' of the bringing the MLS to Portland. This started out just as trying to land the MLS team, and required the upgrade of PGE Park (which is going to be an awesome soccer venue). So we get new life around PGE Park, and then it turns out that we need a new baseball stadium, which will help the Rose quarter area, and could help provide a little push for getting the ball rolling for some sort of developments in the Rose quarter by Paul Allen. This could also lead to the Convention Center hotel, and even possibly (although unlikely, I know I'm dreaming) a high speed rail hub of some sort in that area. It just seems like this small move of trying to get the MLS has created some large potential benefits for several areas of Portland.

Along with the new bridge over the Willamette for Max, the new pedestrian bridge to the Tram which looks good, I think Portland is making some really good moves right now (in spite of the recession), and has me hopeful for our future.

JordanL · #66 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 1:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by twofiftyfive

That was one of the proposed sites for a major league baseball stadium when there was a chance the Expos would move here. It would have been cool, but I never thought it was realistic to expect Pearl residents to put up with 40,000 fans 81 times a year.

Pearl residents are the most useless NIMBYs in the city, besides the folks on the hill...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeplayer19

hey look I can make a map that will never happen 2

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...,0.019312&z=16

Way to be a dick.

zilfondel · #67 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 2:44 AM**

Not to be a dick, but perhaps they should consider Gateway as well. That place has the best transport connections in the Metro area outside of downtown.

God knows it needs a boost in development... I don't know how big baseball stadiums are, but they seem to have lots of underused/parking lots over there.

zilfondel · #68 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 2:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastPDX

LOL!

The US Postal Site will go residential/commercial/employment/park development. That site was a dream not based on facts (Pearl resident issues mentioned above, transportation restrictions were the big two). Some of us have said this for years.

Rose Quarter has always been the prime location for a AAA ballpark to be upgraded to MLB standards in the future. (At least in my mind.)

It is just going to be great to have two stadiums that are built around the sports they serve!!! And that means three sports (Soccer, American Football, and Baseball). I vote that people are seeing the Vision for PGE Park and the Rose Quarter and are getting on the bandwagon.

We have for years wondered about the footprint at the MC for the minor league ballpark (let along big enough for a MLB stadium footprint). We know that a stadium will fit in fine at the PPS site (PPS/Blanchard site is just North of Broadway).

Even Sam Adams mentioned that site as the other site at the Rose Quarter for a AAA stadium yesterday during the council meeting. The logic and reason will follow shortly that the MC site will be considered too small and the Blazers don't want a AAA Stadium that close to the Rose Garden. Sooooo, we move the AAA stadium to the Blanchard Site and the PPS gets what they want too (they move their maintenance facility at Blanchard to a more logically location to the East).

So the MC could still be a HSR Station/Hostel/Museum/Pub/etc. (Memorial Station?). I am so happy that the City is thinking outside the box on all of this and taking a long-term vision on the RQ and helping to make it happen one step at a time.

Ep (Big Boomer at OSC site)

Actually, this makes way more sense than my idea, for a MLB stadium anyway. Do you guys really think we should use such valuable innercity land for a minor league stadium? I kind of think we should save it for that MLB stadium down the road.

And using MC for a high-speed rail station would rock. Could really be a key component for a major retail/entertainment/beergarden center at RQ. Throw a new hotel into the mix as well...

JordanL · #69 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 3:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Not to be a dick, but perhaps they should consider Gateway as well. That place has the best transport connections in the Metro area outside of downtown.

God knows it needs a boost in development... I don't know how big baseball stadiums are, but they seem to have lots of underused/parking lots over there.

They'd have to buy the two big department stores over there, and that's one of the busiest Fred Meyer's in the city, so I doubt they're interested in selling.

It is an Urban Renewal Zone though.

Okstate · #70 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 3:04 AM**

I wonder if during the soccer games Portland's skyline will be visible at all. I doubt it but it would be nice if it were oriented that way with the cameras. Same for any baseball stadium too.

I specifically am thinking of the Pittsburgh Pirates & Colorado Rockies

Joeplayer19 · #71 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 4:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JordanL

Pearl residents are the most useless NIMBYs in the city, besides the folks on the hill...

Way to be a dick.

You just made a vast over generalization of some people you don't even know.

twofiftyfive · #72 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 3:04 PM**

On another thread someone mentioned Blazers' VP J. Isaac's testimony that tearing down Memorial Coliseum would seriously threaten the Blazers' financial viability. Well, the Blazers were on board with this project--even showing the baseball stadium in renderings of their proposed Rose Quarter plans, as John Canzano points out--until Isaac blindsided everyone with this last-second betrayal.

I really don't understand it. It's hard to see how bringing baseball fans to the RQ during the summer would not be good for the Blazers. Also MLS is played in the summer, so I don't think that scares them. Paul Allen is even an investor in the new Seattle Sounders MLS team, and he can't possibly think Portland soccer fans will go watch the Sounders unless they're playing the Timbers. It's all a mystery.

MarkDaMan · #73 Posted **Mar 13, 2009, 10:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okstate

I wonder if during the soccer games Portland's skyline will be visible at all. I doubt it but it would be nice if it were oriented that way with the cameras. Same for any baseball stadium too.

Time for the Oregonian bunkers to be developed!

urbanlife · #74 Posted **Mar 14, 2009, 12:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Time for the Oregonian bunkers to be developed!

I have been wishing for that for a while.

philopdx · #75 Posted **Mar 14, 2009, 7:37 PM**

I have to say, if this goes through I'm really going to miss having lazy Thursday and Friday evening baseball games with a hot dog and a brew right there in the city, in a prime location not too far from work.

I'm not sure how often I would visit soccer games, but I'm sure it would be much less often than baseball. I don't know if that makes me an oddball outlier or someone more representative of the ticket-buying public.

I'm also not sold on the logic that the soccer deal is fundamentally a prerequisite for other development in the Rose Quarter. That is the prevailing wisdom, but I'm finding this "train-station/stadium/hi-rise/subway/post-office/space-tower/fusion-plant" stuff increasingly specious. I made the fusion plant part up.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for increased development, increased density, more vibrancy, taller buildings, more people and better, faster transit, but for some funny reason this soccer deal has struck an off-key note with me.

I really do wonder if they have done their math properly - if Paulson's financial acumen is anything like his father's, I worry we the taxpayers are going to be stuck with with another white elephant that requires perpetual life support.

Sorry folks, maybe it's the rain today, or perhaps another glance at my rapidly dwindling 401(k). Normally I'm quite upbeat about this kind of stuff

twofiftyfive · #76 Posted **Mar 14, 2009, 10:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by philopdx

I really do wonder if they have done their math properly - if Paulson's financial acumen is anything like his father's, I worry we the taxpayers are going to be stuck with with another white elephant that requires perpetual life support.

Paulson is personally guaranteeing the rent on PGE Park and the new baseball stadium for the life of the bonds, so taxpayers can't be stuck with anything.

RED_PDXer · #77 Posted **Mar 15, 2009, 2:19 PM**

I haven't paid much attention to this story, mostly cause I'm not a big sports fan, but why are people mentioning Rose Quarter and MC? I thought the baseball field was going to be in Lents?

Someone can't possibly be considering tearing down MC for a baseball stadium, right?

JordanL · #78 Posted **Mar 15, 2009, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

I haven't paid much attention to this story, mostly cause I'm not a big sports fan, but why are people mentioning Rose Quarter and MC? I thought the baseball field was going to be in Lents?

Someone can't possibly be considering tearing down MC for a baseball stadium, right?

That or tearing down BESC.

zilfondel · #79 Posted **Mar 15, 2009, 9:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

I haven't paid much attention to this story, mostly cause I'm not a big sports fan, but why are people mentioning Rose Quarter and MC? I thought the baseball field was going to be in Lents?

Someone can't possibly be considering tearing down MC for a baseball stadium, right?

Sam Adams proposed tearing down MC instead of building it in Lents.

jaxg8r1 · #80 Posted **Mar 18, 2009, 6:12 PM**

Looks like Vancouver was chosen today as the first of 2 MLS expansion teams. And the rumor going around the internet today is that MLS has a press conference scheduled Friday morning at 930am, downtown Portland Hilton....