It seems as though some cities really want their soccer.

Portland may be in that mix.

Merritt Paulson and his group are catching a good break right now as the city’s task force is speeding up the effort for Portland’s expansion hopes. The group is trying to figure out where to house the city’s minor league baseball team is they get a MLS club.

Leonard asked the Major League Soccer/Minor League Baseball Task Force to make a recommendation about bringing the soccer team to Portland by the end of February. The 18-member task force agreed, delaying its review of where to move the minor league baseball team if the soccer team moves into PGE Park.

“The City Council needs to receive the recommendation by the end of February in order to submit its request to Major League Soccer in March,” said Leonard.

Leonard made the request in person at the task force’s Jan. 27 meeting. He appeared after hearing that the task force was not moving fast enough on the recommendation, in part because it was planning on visiting alternative sites for the Beavers first.

“I told them, make the decision about the soccer team first,” Leonard told the Portland Tribune. “If they decide against recommending that Portland acquire a soccer team, then relocating the Beavers is moot.”

Its good seeing a town like Portland push hard for MLS expansion. You can tell a lot of people really want a club there in the city. Which is good for the league and something I don’t think they can ignore.

While rumors are out there that we will hear something shortly about one MLS expansion announcement I would imagine the other one will come towards the beginning of March if not by mid-March like previously talked about by the league.