Stadium Pr0n: Portland Timbers’ PGE Park Looking Fly
The renovation of the home of the Portland Timbers, PGE Park, appears to be coming along nicely. Portland Mayor Sam Adams (what a great name) gives us a little tour with this new video, which is worth checking out:
PGE Park had a solid atmosphere and looked like a pretty good place to catch a soccer game before the process of renovating it and converting it to a soccer-specific stadium began, so it’s no surprise that it’s looking like a fantastic home for the expansion side that Timbers fans like to think is more of a promoted side. The suites, in particular, look super awesome. Also, I’m not a fan of field turf, but that stuff looks pretty legit. It will be interesting to see how close to grass the surface plays.
By the way, how Portland is Sam Adams? The glasses and haircut are perfect, he’s exactly what I would expect the mayor of Portland to look like.
(H/T Portland Online)
Astute viewers may recognize Mayor Sam Adams for his role as “Mayor’s Assistant” on Portlandia.
The fan experience will not be that great because the west concourse was not widened and no bathrooms were added which are necessary for the increased crowds. You can see how narrow the concourse is at the end of this video. Merritt Paulson also mentions to the mayor that they will not be selling a portion of seats because this would make the fan experience even worse.
@Justin, thanks for your contribution and acknowledging that you know absolutely nothing about a PGE fan experience. I’ve gone to both Beavers and Timbers games, when both have had very large crowds and have sat all over the stadium. The fan experience has always been great, while the crowds make getting out of the stadium a little time consuming, its no different than stadiums all over this country. The bathrooms have been remodeled to increase the number of toilets per bathroom which will allow the lines to move quicker. Ever tried waiting in line at a Blazers game? Ya, I have, 10x worse than any event at PGE I’ve been to. Paulson said they are reinstalling seats, the seats that arent being sold are the ones with obstructed views near the suites in the northwest corner. It’s ok though, go ahead and maintain a death grip on your ignorance.
@Justin: Are you Peter Apanel’s long lost twin? I’ve never heard anyone except him make that argument. Merritt’s point about the seating was that the sections were made narrower, giving up some potential seating but allowing for more aisles, not that they wouldn’t be able to sell all the seats.
As someone that attended sellouts and Women’s world cup games I can tell you that the concourse will be fine, and the bathroom situation is no worse than any other stadium. Take a deep breath, get yourself a ticket and see for yourself.
Eric, Section111. The fan experience has not been great when the stadium was full which was rare but did happen. A sellout in the new stadium is only going to be 3or4K more, which accounts for the new seats on the east. The west and north sides will remain as they were. Like I said, there is a good view of the west concourse at the end of the video. It has always been too narrow. Widening it was supposed to be a primary part of the new renovations, but Paulson decided that a medical clinic he could charge rent for is more important. He got a waiver from the city council allowing him to put a private business, the clinic, on public property, something the rest of us aren’t allowed to do.
Why didn’t the city just purchase the team? They have money for renovations. I wouldn’t think that the team given their standing would be that expensive. (why do they need hardhats in an open field?)