I saw this news earlier today and immediately though “why haven’t other expansion clubs done this before?” Well really only Seattle could do it since they were basically being “promoted” to the big show last year.

The Portland Timbers still have a year before they enter Major League Soccer but they are already making sure their roster will be MLS-ready. Today they signed veteran keeper Adin Brown. MLS fans will remember Brown from his time in New England back in 2002-04, he lead the Revs to a MLS Cup final in 2002.

I love this move for a couple reasons, not only do the Timbers get a quality veteran keeper this year but they also completely skip over the crazy MLS allocation process to get Brown. You see, Brown would normally go through the MLS allocation system to be placed with a club. Now Portland will have one of the first cracks at a player next year (along with Vancouver) meaning they still have a shot at a quality player. This is in a way almost a two-for-one deal.

Now Brown isn’t fully healthy yet but reports suggest he will be good to go by the middle of June. Even more important he should be 100% for the first MLS season in Portland.

Very smart of Portland to get this deal done if you ask me. It makes them better now for their USSF Division II season and for next year.

Merritt Paulson signs the official expansion letter with MLS. (photo via Portland Timbers)

The final hurdle to bring Major League Soccer to Portland was cleared on today when the Portland City Council voted 4-1 to approve $31 million in funding to renovate PGE Park. The vote means the Portland Timbers expansion team can begin play in 2011 as planned.

As we all know Portland and Vancouver will join the league next year to put MLS at 18 clubs. Portland had a long history of issues with getting the proper money to renovate PGE Park but with that all now out of the way the club can focus on getting everything in line for next season.

Great news for the Rose City.

PGE Park renovation renderings. (Portland Timbers)

Details of PGE Park’s $31million renovation for the Portland Timbers’ move to Major League Soccer in 2011 was released Monday to The Oregonian. Renderings show exactly how they plan on making PGE a soccer facility for good.

The biggest transformation will be the stadium’s east side. A public plaza at the corner of 18th Avenue and Morrison Street will form the main entrance, extend toward the field and include a team store open even on non-gamedays.

A sit-down restaurant will serve 1,444 midfield seats, a community meeting room will be built next to the restaurant and three group and family decks will be built for events and extra seating. A cover will jut over most of the roughly 4,000 east-section seats, echoing the existing wooden overhangs in the 83–year-old stadium.  Additional restrooms and concession stands will serve the new seating areas.

Work is expected to be done started in January in time for the 2011 season.

Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said the capacity will be expanded from it’s current 16,000 to somewhere between 20,000 and 24,000, including a north auxiliary area that will be closed for most games.

PGE Park Renovation renderings. (Portland Timbers)

The only real bad news is the field, it probably won’t be grass like most MLS fans would want.

The renovation details come with a concession: Though hard-core soccer fans wanted the Timbers’ re-vamped home to include grass, the playing surface almost certainly will be artificial turf, Paulson said.

The stadium’s reality is rainy springs and falls, and the need to accommodate the Portland State football team, high school games and other events. Crisscrossing field lines for football and soccer when those seasons overlap would be far more difficult to manage on grass, Paulson said.

“We’re going to have days where we play soccer right after football games, and on a rainy day, the field would be utterly destroyed,” he said.

I guess we can let the complaining on PGE Park begin out of fans and players. I know FieldTurf is an eyesore to most but it isn’t the absolute worst thing in the world and it’s come a long way from its AstroTurf days.

I think overall it’s exciting news to hear and see details of their plans for this stadium (finally). Hopefully the work gets done on time and things work out for Paulson and company.

PGE Park renovation renderings. (Portland Timbers)

Last night’s US Open Cup match between the Seattle Sounders FC and the Portland Timbers was pretty sweet. Not only did this rivalry get some good love across the land but it produced a quality game with some even more entertaining fans in the stands at PGE Park.

Makes me want to fast forward a bit to 2011 to see this rivalry in Major League Soccer.

Just a reminder, Portland’s expansion club announcement will come later today at noon CT. There should be video on the league’s site (or a new Portland2011 site) in a little while of the announcement.

No word on if the scarves will just say Portland 2011 or if Timbers will be included on it.

I just got a couple emails and Facebook messages from some readers up in Portland (and yes I know this stuff is already posted elsewhere but I felt it needed posted again). Apparently there is going to possibly be another expansion announcement this week in Portland. According to the messages that a rally and press conference are being set for this Friday.

What: Rally and Press Conference Announcement

When: 9:30 a.m., Friday March 20

Where: Portland Hilton
921 SW Sixth Avenue, Portland Oregon

And the Timbers Army and supporters who rallied a couple weeks ago are asked to show up once again and be even louder than before.

What do you make of this news? I know I am excited to see Portland get in. Funny how the league decided to just do it all at once while they were out in Vancouver.