This question maybe out of date but I'm going to ask anyway. The other day I was going through a bunch of video tapes and came across the 98 World Cup qualifying game against Costa Rica that was played in Portland. It was the game when Tab Ramos scored a great goal towards the end of the game and it ended 1-0. If I remember correctly that stadium origianally had artificial turf but they tore it out and planted grass just for this game. Also, I thought there was alot of talk about that stadium staying that way in hopes of getting an MLS expansion team. Whatever happened to that stadium? Are the soccer plans they had for that stadium long gone?
http://pgepark.com/ It was renovated about two years ago. It has one of the newer types of artifical turf and is convertible between baseball, football and american football.
Spoken like someone who obviously hasn't been there. Even though I'm a Sounders fan, I have to say that PGE Park is a huge asset for any Portland bid for an MLS team. It's small enough to fit in with MLS projections, and its downtown location and layout give it a wonderful ambience. I've already started thinking of the south end of the stadium as the Multnomah End, since that's where the Multnomah Athletic Club has its building. They even have a balcony where MAC members can come out and watch games there. Portland Timbers supporters have their Woodshed at the north end, but it's easy to imagine setting up bleachers and having a good supporters' section at that end.
With some work, it could be a nice little venue. The pitch sucks (NexTurf) though and would need to be replaced. As it is, it couldn't work with ground-sharing with a baseball team. Would need to get the baseball out, put bleachers alongside the touchline where the left/centerfield wall are as with the CR qualifier. And some bleachers in the athetic club end behind the goal. Since the CR qualifier, one corner of the ground was taken out and replaced with a multi-tiered set of luxury boxes for baseball. It looks *so* out of place for footy, a monstrosity really. As a football ground, would have been much better to leave that section "as-was". The rest of it, they did a decent job with the renovation. Easy to get to via commuter train, the concourses and concessions are much better as well. And yes, I've been there, several times.
i don't need to be there in order to know that a stadium that is shared with football and baseball is not good for me.... i was talking personnaly... and you taked that against you...
PGE PARK Now it is time for someone who lives in Portland to address your question. The Stadium has gone though renovation and yes it has Nexturf as our Portland State University complained grass would be torn up by the High School football games before they had a chance to use it. So the grass that was to be put in was nixed. There is a push for Major League Baseball as they are trying to get the state government behind them. The main trouble still would be Portland State University as they have no stadium of their own. I think that more fans would come to MLS games then our A-League games. The Stadium could be made into a great soccer only venue. My question to everyone is that Seattle does have Sea Hawks Stadium, but Feildturf is not grass is it? Are not all MLS stadiums Grass? Cheers Kurt
Re: PGE PARK Yes it is FieldTurf not grass, although (supposedly) the FT will be ripped out and replaced with grass should MLS play in the stadium. But First & Goal's broken nearly every promise made in the stadium vote campaign, so take that with a grain of salt... Chicago plays on some sort of fakegrass this season and next, so no they're not all grass. FWIW, FieldTurf is the only non-grass surface approved by FIFA for competitive matches, and from nearly every account I've heard from people that have played on multiple surface types, FieldTurf beats NexTurf hands down.
Now, there's an artificial surface that is supposedly better than FieldTurf. It's called RealGrass and the Dallas Cowboys just laid it down 2 weeks ago. http://www.realgrass.com/
I hear FIFA is looking into fake grass I read something the other day that mentioned that FIFA was attending a conference on artificial surfaces. Maybe they are going to be a little more open to it. Too bad if they are. Artificial turf sucks.
Re: I hear FIFA is looking into fake grass i think that the technology has went too far... and if we can achieve a very playable artificial surface that will be good... because that will save tons of money for the teams... and the turf will allways look very good...
Re: I hear FIFA is looking into fake grass Well, the crap in Portland certainly does. Not the stuff in Seattle though. (Seahawks Stadium, not Memorial. Memorial should be outlawed.)
PGE Park rent How much does Portland State University pay to play college football there? Someone mentioned 3 to 4 thousand $ per game, but I haven't seen that verified. If that's what the stadium operators normally charge for sporting events, then MLS needs to check Portland out further.