Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Portland approves that stadium plan

It was a long tiresome day in the city of Portland as they endlessly debated the stadium issue, but in the end, with a 3-2 score, I mean vote, city politicians approved the stadium plan. So what does this all mean? It means that Portland will likely be announced as the 18th or 17th franchise in the MLS, with Vancouver being the other 17th or 18th franchise.

Vancouver and Portland will set up a nice little rivalry with Seattle and they can re-create the Cascadia Cup that was so successful in the USL-1 days. It also allows Portland to try and build a solid rivalry with San Jose. Vancouver will build on the rivalry with Toronto FC as the two Canadian franchise and a national TV deal.

Rumours are that St. Louis will then gladly accept a USL-1 franchise. I guess that's better than no professional soccer at all.

Meanwhile, pure speculation has Victoria, BC landing a 2011 USL-1 team which formerly inhabited Vancouver. More on that later.

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