Portland State's new stadium name

[JALMOND]

With the renovation process nearing completion, the stadium in downtown Portland where Portland State plays has been renamed from PGE Park to Jeld-Wen Field.

www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/workers_remove_signs_at_pge_pa.html

www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2011/03/portland_timbers_venue_renamed.html

The Portland Timbers will be playing soccer there this summer which means Portland State will be playing football there this fall. After playing in Hillsboro last year, this year finds the Vikings back in Portland.

[TTUEagles]

What happened to the AAA team, Portland Beavers? Did they move to Tucson and if so, is there minor league b'ball in Portland anymore?
Great looking renovations, by the way!

[DFW HOYA]

Good for them, I guess, but nothing says college football like "Jeld-Wen..." And in a few years, they'll probably change it to WinCo Field anyway.

[srgrizizen]

What happened to the AAA team, Portland Beavers? Did they move to Tucson and if so, is there minor league b'ball in Portland anymore?
Great looking renovations, by the way!

I believe they lost their AAA team to Salt Lake. They're under the hard to kill delusion that Americans will ever embrace soccer as anything more than an occasional curiosity. At least PSU will continue to have a decent venue for football, but it's sad to see baseball leave the stadium after more than 50 years.

[doolittledog]

I believe they lost their AAA team to Salt Lake. They're under the hard to kill delusion that Americans will ever embrace soccer as anything more than an occasional curiosity. At least PSU will continue to have a decent venue for football, but it's sad to see baseball leave the stadium after more than 50 years.

Portland St will have a BETTER venue for football now that the baseball team has left. That AAA baseball team that had been around for 80 odd years averaged about 5k fans per game. The MLS team sold out their season ticket allotment. Almost every team in MLS has their own stadium seating between 18k - 27k. They aren't the NFL, but they do pretty well, along with providing stadiums for the FCS championship game, Texas Southern, Portland St, and possibly Villanova in the near future.

[EdubAlum]

With the renovation process nearing completion, the stadium in downtown Portland where Portland State plays has been renamed from PGE Park to Jeld-Wen Field.

www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/workers_remove_signs_at_pge_pa.html

www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2011/03/portland_timbers_venue_renamed.html

The Portland Timbers will be playing soccer there this summer which means Portland State will be playing football there this fall. After playing in Hillsboro last year, this year finds the Vikings back in Portland.

It should be noted that Portland State doesn't actually own this facility, it's owned by the city, and PSU rents it out. Jeld-Wen is a pretty good sponsor though, and solid Oregon based company. That being said, I actually preferred Hillsboro stadium. At least you could tailgate there (even if they did charge a crazy 25 dollars to do it.), the drive sucked, but it felt more like a college atmosphere. Civic stadium always feels really sad when it's only got like 7k people in it. Not that Portland State has poor attendance, it's just a large facility, i feel the same way about playing EWU games at Qwest field in Seattle.

[EdubAlum]

I believe they lost their AAA team to Salt Lake. They're under the hard to kill delusion that Americans will ever embrace soccer as anything more than an occasional curiosity. At least PSU will continue to have a decent venue for football, but it's sad to see baseball leave the stadium after more than 50 years.

They've left several times before (the Portland Beavers), In fact these beavers have only been around since 2000. Nobody went to those games, I'm not just saying that, the stadium was EMPTY and the ticket sales backed that up. however the timbers games would have about 10k fans attending, that's pretty impressive for a minor league soccer team.

Sidenote: Portland is the largest city in the country without a Major League baseball team, and there are several smaller cities with one.

[DFW HOYA]

Sidenote: Portland is the largest city in the country without a Major League baseball team, and there are several smaller cities with one.

Not even close. Largest cities without MLB (2009 population rank listed):

7 San Antonio 1,373,668
10 San Jose 964,695
13 Jacksonville 813,518
14 Indianapolis 807,584
15 Austin 790,390
16 Columbus 769,332
18 Charlotte 709,441
19 Memphis 676,640
20 El Paso 649,121
25 Nashville 605,473
28 Las Vegas 567,641
29 Louisville 566,503
30 Portland 566,143

[I Bleed Purple]

I believe they lost their AAA team to Salt Lake.

Salt Lake has had Triple A baseball for a lot of years, now.

[Sec310]

The AAA team did go to Tucson and are waiting for a stadium to be build in a San Diego suburb, the Beavers are a Padres minor league team.

Yes, I remember a Portland Rockies- an A level team being in Portland. Forgot where the last Beavers went, maybe SLC.

[EdubAlum]

Not even close. Largest cities without MLB (2009 population rank listed):

7 San Antonio 1,373,668
10 San Jose 964,695
13 Jacksonville 813,518
14 Indianapolis 807,584
15 Austin 790,390
16 Columbus 769,332
18 Charlotte 709,441
19 Memphis 676,640
20 El Paso 649,121
25 Nashville 605,473
28 Las Vegas 567,641
29 Louisville 566,503
30 Portland 566,143

NOT EVEN CLOSE largest cities in the country by metro area population.

1 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island 19,069,796 multiple teams
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana 12,874,797 multiple teams
3 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville 9,580,567 multiple teams
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 6,447,615 rangers
5 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 5,968,252 phillys
6 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown 5,867,489 astros
7 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach 5,547,051 marlins
8 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 5,476,241 nationals
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta 5,475,213 braves
10 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy 4,588,680 red sox
11 Detroit-Warren-Livonia 4,403,437 tigers
12 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale 4,364,094 diamonbacks
13 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 4,317,853 giants
14 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 4,143,113 multiple teams (la)
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 3,407,848 mariners
16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 3,269,814 twins
17 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 3,053,793 padres
18 St. Louis, MO 2,828,990 cardinals
19 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 2,747,272 rays
20 Baltimore-Towson 2,690,886 orioles
21 Denver-Aurora-Broomfield 2,552,195 rockies
22 Pittsburgh, PA MSA 2,354,957 pirates
23 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 2,241,841 NONE!
24 Cincinnati-Middletown 2,171,896 reds
25 Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville 2,127,355 NONE

[JALMOND]

What happened to the AAA team, Portland Beavers? Did they move to Tucson and if so, is there minor league b'ball in Portland anymore?
Great looking renovations, by the way!

The Beavers will ultimately end up in Escondido, CA. As it sits right now, Portland is the largest city in the country without any professional baseball, major or minor league. The city was unable to adopt any plan to keep the Beavers here. Unfortunate as we just hosted the AAA All-Star game in 2009.

I prefer baseball to soccer, but if we can get a decent FCS type stadium, well, wouldn't you?

[JALMOND]

It should be noted that Portland State doesn't actually own this facility, it's owned by the city, and PSU rents it out. Jeld-Wen is a pretty good sponsor though, and solid Oregon based company. That being said, I actually preferred Hillsboro stadium. At least you could tailgate there (even if they did charge a crazy 25 dollars to do it.), the drive sucked, but it felt more like a college atmosphere. Civic stadium always feels really sad when it's only got like 7k people in it. Not that Portland State has poor attendance, it's just a large facility, i feel the same way about playing EWU games at Qwest field in Seattle.

Sorry, Edub, but you can have Hillsboro Stadium. It's good as a temporary home, but I would not want it to be permanent. The way Montana travels, it got a little too crowded for my tastes. :D

As for the name, at least PGE was associated with the city. Jeld-Wen is headquartered in Klamath Falls.

[TheBisonator]

NOT EVEN CLOSE largest cities in the country by metro area population.

1 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island 19,069,796 multiple teams
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana 12,874,797 multiple teams
3 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville 9,580,567 multiple teams
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 6,447,615 rangers
5 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 5,968,252 phillys
6 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown 5,867,489 astros
7 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach 5,547,051 marlins
8 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 5,476,241 nationals
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta 5,475,213 braves
10 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy 4,588,680 red sox
11 Detroit-Warren-Livonia 4,403,437 tigers
12 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale 4,364,094 diamonbacks
13 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 4,317,853 giants
14 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 4,143,113 multiple teams (la)
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 3,407,848 mariners
16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 3,269,814 twins
17 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 3,053,793 padres
18 St. Louis, MO 2,828,990 cardinals
19 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 2,747,272 rays
20 Baltimore-Towson 2,690,886 orioles
21 Denver-Aurora-Broomfield 2,552,195 rockies
22 Pittsburgh, PA MSA 2,354,957 pirates
23 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro 2,241,841 NONE!
24 Cincinnati-Middletown 2,171,896 reds
25 Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville 2,127,355 NONE

Montreal is actually the largest city on the continent that does not have a major league baseball team. And Montreal (3.9 million) is larger than Mexico's #2 city, Guadalajara.

[doolittledog]

With Jeld-Wen Field transitioning from a baseball park into a soccer/football stadium, the outfield has been taken out and replaced by a new sideline stand.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stahancyk/5556266316/in/set-72157625393670316/

This will make for better viewing and might help increase Portland St attendance from 7k to hopefully 10k or better.

[Hammerhead]

Jeld-Wen has sponsored a golf tournament for years, but their name just doesn't roll off the tounge very well. Parking is going to be a big issue for some games as the stadium is right on the edge of a mixed residential and business district where parking on the street for more than 2 hours requires a permit given to residents and businesses in the area. There isn't enough room on the light rail to get everyone to and from the game.

[EdubAlum]

Jeld-Wen has sponsored a golf tournament for years, but their name just doesn't roll off the tounge very well. Parking is going to be a big issue for some games as the stadium is right on the edge of a mixed residential and business district where parking on the street for more than 2 hours requires a permit given to residents and businesses in the area. There isn't enough room on the light rail to get everyone to and from the game.

I'd say over 50% of the people for the blazer games come via light rail....

[Jimmer]

I am in the window business, and nobody spends marketing dollars like Jeld-Wen. Can't say I am surprised, did make me chuckle though.

On a serious note, the stadium looks nice.