Portland needs a new stadium - for soccer, not baseball or basketball

If a soccer stadium were built where the PPS home office sits in North Portland, it could be an anchor for a re-generated Albina District.

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Portland leaders have been making all the legal and political moves to build a new stadium in the downtown area for years, and this summer pulled the gloves off to showcase their raw skills all the way to the state legislature - to build a baseball stadium. There’s a funding plan for a baseball stadium on the East bank of the Willamette Rive; a plan that might be started in the next five years.

And, now there’s the impending sale of the Portland Trail Blazers driving civic leaders to prep the city for an upgrade of the Moda Center. Or, even a replacement of the Moda Center and how the same civic leaders need to prepare for that.

But, here’s a statement that those leaders are chasing the wrong stadium. Portland doesn’t need a baseball stadium for a team it does not have, and it can certainly handle upgrading the Moda Center to seduce the poor soul who buys the $3.5 billion Blazers franchise.

The Rose City should be making moves to build a new stadium for teams it already has - soccer teams that have put the city on the global map due its fanbase.

Portland should build a new soccer stadium, and soon. This has potential to be a major source of economic recovery and civic pride - the kind the city needs in a time of significant social uncertainty and unrest. Trouble is, there has not been a voice for a new soccer stadium until now, so this project is in the underdog category of storyline even though is should be an easy sell.

Providence Park -the stadium for Soccer City, USA, is going to be 100 years old next season. Only Fenway Park (1912), Wrigley Field (1914) and Soldier Field (1924) are older stadiums that are home to pro sports franchises. It’s been renovated and upgraded numerous times since the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club (now the MAC) first built it for $500,000 largely to host University of Oregon football games.

The most recent upgrade (2019) added 4,000 seats to the East side to increase seating to more than 25,000 for games, and more than 30,000 for events such as concerts.

With there not being much urgency for a new stadium to hold Timbers and Thorns games, it’s easy to ask “what’s the need for a new stadium?” The answer is the World Cup.

The World Cup is being held in the US, as well as Canada and Mexico in 2026, and Portland - Soccer City, USA - has no role in the event at all.

Portland, along with David Beckham, is a key reason that soccer/football is succeeding in the US due to its energetic fanbase, so it should be involved in the World Cup to some level. The reason Soccer City, USA, is not involved in the World Cup is due to Providence Park, and its upcoming anniversary in 2026.

Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are doing just fine bringing fans in to see the home teams play baseball, but Providence Park does not have the same reverence for its main sport. It needs to be replaced, and soon.

So, here’s a voice for Portland’s future identity in soccer - that it should get busy with cultivating Soccer City, USA. And, that future includes recognizing it should not have a 100-year-old stadium for the Timbers and Thorns.

WORLD CUP 2026

UNITED STATES HOST CITIES

Atlanta

Boston

Dallas

Houston

Kansas City

Los Angeles

Miami

New York

Philadelphia

San Francisco

Seattle

CANADA

Toronto

Vancouver, B.C.

MEXICO

Guadalajara

Monterrey

Mexico City

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