The fate of professional soccer in Portland rests in the hands of a five-person panel of Portland city commissionerswho will decide today if a bill to fund the building of a stadium and renewal of PGE Park will go to the full city council for a vote, or if it will die before it gets there.
Needing three votes out of five, and reportedly having two in favor and one against, the Portland MLS expansion bid hinges on the ability to convince one of two remaining undecided commissioners, Dan Salzman and Nick Fish, that bringing MLS to the city of Portland would make investing city funds into stadium projects worth it.
MLS has already reportedly reached an agreement with the Portland expansion group to award Portland a 2011 expansion team if the stadium funding proposal is passed, leaving it up to today's vote to decide the future of MLS in Portland.
What do you think of this situation? Do you think Portland will pull it out and join Vancouver (which SBI identified as one of the expansion winners last week) in the MLS expansion class of 2011? Are you still holding out hope that St. Louis gets a bid? Not crazy about MLS adding two teams from the Pacific Northwest? Are you a soccer fan from that area who is loving the idea of Seattle, Vancouver and Portland facing each other in MLS play?
Share your thoughts on Portland's MLS expansion chances below.
