Thursday, March 12, 2009

Expansion bids

Miami seemed the favorite for an expansion team until the whole deal unraveled in a matter of days. After Atlanta and Montreal had pulled out, the field was narrow enough already but now it looks as if at least one team is all but a shoo-in.

Portland's city council approved a plan that would clear the way for a new stadium. That last part, the "new stadium," is what MLS likes to hear. If Portland can build a stadium, the city will almost certainly nab one of two expansion bids.

All along, I've been a believer in Portland. I have no connection to the city, have never been to Oregon, but I feel that a presence in the city and another West Coast team would not be a bad thing. With two SoCal teams, San Jose, Seattle and Portland, we've got a nice little West Coast thing going on here. Add Real Salt Lake and Colorado and the league will have a solid presence West of the Rockies.

(Okay, not sure if the Rapids are technically east or west of the Rocky Mountains, but you get my point)

If Portland gets a team and if the team is named the Timbers, we'd have an instant rivalry. Seattle and Portland have a long-standing rivalry and this would add to that. We've seen how great passion rivalries can bring out, and this would add to the benefits of a Portland-based club.

St. Louis also appears to be picking up some steam but for now it seems a toss-up between St. Louis, Vancouver and Ottawa for the other spot alongside Portland as the league's 17th and 18th clubs.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Move!!!

Anonymous said...

it sounds like vancouver, baby... here comes canada

Anonymous said...

I'm old enough to remember the great NASL rivalries between Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, so I would love to see Vancouver and Portland added to MLS.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't get too excited about Anheuser-Busch getting involved with the St. Louis bid, mostly because their involvement seems to be limited to their donation of a 6,000 seat stadium that could be expanded to 10,000 with bleachers. Not exactly convincing stuff. It'll be Portland and Vancouver.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see a team in Portland. Vancouver would be good too, but they need to change the international player designation to include Canadians as "non-internationals".