Portland, Oregon is home to one of the most passionate and authentic soccer supporters groups in the country. Furthermore the city is home to the Portland Timbers, a team that began playing in their century-old downtown stadium over 30 years ago.

The state of soccer in the US has improved significantly over the last decade, due in large part to the success of Major League Soccer. Relative to other leagues around the world however, MLS does not offer authenticity and following of clubs that have been entrenched in their respective cities for decades because its teams have generally only about a decade of history.

The Portland metro area is an ideal location for an expansion team. As a top 25 media market, Portland would offer an audience significant enough to attract the largest advertisers. Furthermore, without competing Major League summer sports like baseball, soccer in Portland would fill a civic need and benefit from the absense of competing sports. Finally, the demographics of the Portland metro area lend well for soccer, with a large international population.

Currently, the owner of the Portland Timbers is pursuing one of the two slots for the league's next expansion round. His objective is for the Timbers to begin playing as a Major League Soccer team in 2011. He would also pursue the updating and expansion of PGE park, which has been called "the Fenway of US soccer".

As the league considers which markets to expand to next, its emphasis should be on securing markets like Portland that have both history and strong fan base.

Major League Soccer should expand to Portland by 2011.

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