Portland Timbers
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| Nickname(s) | The Timbers |
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| Founded | 2009 |
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Providence Park Portland, Oregon |
| Capacity | 21,144 |
| Owner | Peregrine Sports, LLC |
| CEO | Merritt Paulson |
| Manager | Caleb Porter |
| League | Major League Soccer |
| 2016 | Western Conference: 7th Overall: 12th Playoffs: Did not qualify |
| Website | Club home page |
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| MLS | USL | NWSL | PDL |
The Portland Timbers are an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team began play in 2011 as an expansion team. The club is the fourth soccer franchise based in Portland to share the legacy of the Timbers name, which originated with the original team, in the North American Soccer League in 1975.
In the 2013 MLS season, the Timbers finished first in the Western Conference, clinching both their first-ever playoff appearance and CONCACAF Champions League berth. In the 2015 playoffs, Portland won the Western Conference final and advanced to MLS Cup 2015, where they defeated Columbus Crew SC 2–1, winning their first MLS Cup trophy.
The announcement of the Timbers' entry into MLS was the culmination of a nearly two-year-long process for Merritt Paulson, dating back at least to May 2007, when Paulson led a group that bought the Portland Beavers and the USL Timbers. The group included former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Meritt Paulson's father. The biggest issue for the city of Portland at that time was that due to league concerns about seating configuration, field surface and scheduling, obtaining an MLS club would require a new stadium.
In October 2007, Paulson was told PGE Park could be upgraded for about $20 million, and a new baseball stadium (with 8,000 to 9,000 seats) would cost about $30 million. By November 2008, Paulson told The New York Times he expected Portland taxpayers would spend $85 million to "build a new baseball stadium for his Beavers and renovate PGE Park—just remodeled in 2001 at a cost to taxpayers of $38.5 million—for soccer", and that in exchange, he would spend $40 million for the franchise fee to bring a new Major League Soccer team to Portland. MLS was in support of the proposal, wanting to continue to expand the number of owners in the league (for a while, all of its teams were owned by three men: Philip Anschutz, Lamar Hunt, and Robert Kraft).
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