Vancouver, Portland so close to MLS their fans can taste it

March 10, 2:13 PMSeattle Soccer ExaminerDavid Falk

Previous Next

13 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Seattle Soccer Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

These recent and upcoming weeks aren't just big ones for soccer in Seattle, but for the entire region stretching from British Columbia to Oregon. Vancouver and Portland are so close to joining Seattle in Major League Soccer (2011) that their fans can taste it. When Sounders FC debut Thursday night March 19 on ESPN 2 we could have at least one big side story besides Seattle's debut.

Vancouver is getting all the buzz as basically assured of an expansion MLS club for 2011. The Globe and Mail published a story over the weekend detailing that an agreement was down to signing papers.

Portland's big week is this week. On Wednesday at 9:30 AM the city council is scheduled to take a vote on whether to send funding over to remodel PGE Park. The financing plan was rolled out this morning.

Whitecaps fans are hoping for an MLS announcement next week.

 While Vancouver only awaits Major League Soccer approval, Portland must get a third city council vote for the finance plan to pass. Then they would await league approval, which could come in April.

You might think Sounders FC would want the whole region to themselves like the Mariners have for pro baseball and the Seahawks have with the NFL. Soccer, though, is a tribal game that thrives on rivalries ("derbies") and the ability of fans to travel to away matches in support of their clubs. Village against village.The entry of either Vancouver or Portland or both would be a boon for Sounders FC fans, too. Close rivals and a return of the historical derbies that began in the 1970's when all three clubs played in the old North American Soccer League.

Timbers fans recently marched in favor of a city-fed MLS expansion financing plan.

Some MLS pundits don't see how the league could add two clubs so close to each other, and Seattle, in the same expansion round. This expansion cycle has seen candidates come and go with the result that only St. Louis, Ottawa and the two local cities remain in the bidding. The overhwelming success of the Sounders in ticket sales has only helped the efforts in Portland and Vancouver, further exposing the region as having a history and love of the sport and their clubs.

Both cities would complement Seattle in the league. Vancouver being a well-structured top-to-bottom 'football club' with a history of winning and Portland bringing a third local downtown venue and passionate fans with a counter-culture edge.

When I organized the "Cascadia Cup" back in 2004 with the help of Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps supporters, all of us were on the outside looking up at MLS. When Seattle improbably broke through in 2007 with an expansion award despite having the lowest attendance totals of the three USL clubs operating at the time, it wasn't too long before Sounders supporters were having pangs of missing the rivalries and the road trips.

Now we come to Spring 2009, and fellow soccer fans up north in Vancouver and down south in Portland are all holding their breath to see who gets to join the Sounders 'in the bigs.' Will the Cascadia clubs resume their derbies in 2011?

Even the most bitter of us rivalry 'veterans' is hoping for a local sweep in the expansion race.

Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers, MLS 2011!

(Photos courtesy of fans of both clubs, on Flickr.com)