MLS sets second Portland visit

Major League Soccer’s top brass plans to revisit Portland today to analyze more closely the possibility of fielding an expansion team at PGE Park, officials said Tuesday.

MLS commissioner Don Garber and league president Mark Abbott are scheduled to meet this afternoon with Merritt Paulson, who is negotiating to bring the highest level of U.S. soccer to Portland. In May, Paulson became owner of the Portland Timbers soccer franchise, which plays one notch below MLS, and the Portland Beavers, a Triple A baseball team.

After talks today, Garber and Abbott plan to watch the 7 p.m. exhibition between the U.S. and Mexican women’s soccer teams at PGE Park. Garber did not have a chance to see the stadium in “game condition” for a significant event when he first inspected PGE Park in March, said Dan Courtemanche, a league senior vice president.

 – Excerpt from The Oregonian, October 17, 2007