MLS Attendance Analysis: Season Finale

ah. that's true the did this years capacity twice last season as a test run .... 2011 seems so long ago

 

Does Portland's stadium have room for further expansion?

 

Short answer: No. There are seats with blocked views present, but clearly undesirable. MP kept talking about improving the experience than adding seats this year. Concourse issues are a sticking point as well.

 

Shouldn't the answer be:

Short answer: Yes

Long Answer: However the seats are obstructed view and the concourse has issues that would prevent easy expansion.

 

Physical expansion of those seats is already done. They've existed since 1926. Expansion into new seats, well... No.

 

27k in LA last night.

 

But the point is that they aren't being used. Jeld-Wen has a capacity of about 25k, doesn't it? If Portland really wanted to, they could open up the seats they aren't currently using, but because those seats are obstructed view seats and/or the concourse would become overly packed, they don't.

 

If all seats go used, you may be over 21,500. They are down to just a handful of seats left. I know, I sit right next to unused sections (top of 216 where I can watch the media file in and out of the press box).

The rough count of seats not used:
Sec 201: 300 seats? [it's a small section]
Sec 209-211: 200 seats [2 1/2 sections of about six rows not used]
Sec 215-216: 100 seats
Sec 218-221: 500 seats

Total: 1,100 seats, give or take a few hundred.

Used gigapan as a reference:
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/blog/post/2012/05/28/find-yourself-portland-timbers-taggable-gigapan

 

Portland is quite poor financially at the moment, but speaking hypothetically in the "future" where they are rolling in dough, the only significant expansion left would be to buy out the elite athletics club next door and build full stands on that side.

Anyone know if the possibility of that is more than zero?

 

It is not greater than 0.

And what part of cash flow neutral is poor?

EDIT: It is more than a gym. It is the club that financed the stadium's completion decades ago, and deeded it over to the city. The fact the title belongs to Portland does not mean Portland has the leverage to close the MAC with a buyout.

 

OK. That answers that clear enough

It's what I figured, but looking at a map the gap is so blatant.

So 10 years from now woudn't it be ironic if Portland is the smallest team in the league because they can't expand

 

You know, if 10 years from now the smallest team in the league is drawing over 20,000 to every game, I think I'll be ok with that.

 

He asked. I answered.

Yes, I am tired of the question. Did you know it has feral cats?

 

It can always go up. However, it is easier to say than do. Not only the money, since it is expensive to do the changes, but also because it is a downtown stadium, which makes capacity always an issue due the flux of people to games and other events. The city would need to approve such expansion...

 

And is it true that there is a river flowing under it?

 

It's technically a sewer line.

 

Neither. It is a diverted creek.

 

That just means it's a "Storm" sewer as opposed to a "Sanitary" sewer.

 

Except it is a sewer. It just happens to also be a creek and storm drain.

 

I dont think LA can sell more than 15K tickets on a weeknight by some school rule, so it was almost full.

 

There's a link further up in the thread where they said the cap was lifted to 20k.

 

"at least" 20k.