The Portland Timbers are an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home matches at Providence Park since 2011, when the team began play as an expansion team in the league.
The club was founded in 2009, when the city of Portland was awarded an expansion berth to Major League Soccer. The team operating rights are owned by Peregrine Sports under the majority ownership of Merritt Paulson, whose companies had acquired the then-USL Pro team in 2007 and later established the Portland Thorns women’s team in 2012 (all MLS franchises are centrally owned by the league itself, which grants operating rights and privileges to the individual club “owners,” who are also shareholders in MLS). The team is a phoenix club, and the fourth soccer franchise based in Portland (second top-level) to carry the legacy of the Timbers name, which originated with the team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1975 to 1982.
In 2013, the Timbers finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference, clinching both their first-ever playoff appearance and a CONCACAF Champions League berth. In 2015, the franchise won the Western Conference Finals in the playoffs, and their first major trophy, the MLS Cup, becoming the first team in Cascadia to do so. In 2017, the club again finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference. In 2018, the Timbers again made the playoffs, advancing in three rounds, defeating archrival Seattle in the semifinals along the way, and made the MLS Cup where they lost 2–0 to Atlanta United FC. In 2020, the Timbers won the one-off MLS is Back Tournament, defeating Orlando City SC in the final, and once again qualified for the Champions League. In 2021, the Timbers won the Western Conference and once again were runners-up in MLS Cup, falling to New York City FC 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 score at extra time.
Portland has long-standing rivalries with nearby clubs Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with whom they compete for the Cascadia Cup.
Professional soccer in Portland, Oregon can be traced to the soccer team that competed in the top-level North American Soccer League (NASL) as an expansion team from 1975 until the club’s seventh season in 1982.[1] The club’s major achievement was in their inaugural season during the league’s playoffs, having won the league’s division final, and runners-up in Soccer Bowl ’75 losing to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the championship match.[2] In 1985, F.C. Portland had established and was a charter club in the Western Soccer Alliance League and competed until folding in 1990. Professional soccer was dormant in the city until 2001, when the USL Timbers was founded and competed in Division 2 soccer in USL pro until the club folded in 2010. The USL club finished with the best record in the league in both the 2004 and 2009 regular seasons.[3]
The announcement of the Timbers’ entry into MLS was the culmination of a nearly two-year-long process for Merritt Paulson, dating back at least to May 2007, when Paulson led a group that bought the Portland Beavers and the USL Timbers. The group included former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Meritt Paulson’s father.[4] The biggest issue for the city of Portland at that time was that due to league concerns about seating configuration, field surface and scheduling, obtaining an MLS club would require a new stadium.[5]
In October 2007, Paulson was told PGE Park could be upgraded for about $20 million, and a new baseball stadium (with 8,000 to 9,000 seats) would cost about $30 million.[6] By November 2008, Paulson told The New York Times he expected Portland taxpayers would spend $85 million to “build a new baseball stadium for his Beavers and renovate PGE Park—just remodeled in 2001 at a cost to taxpayers of $38.5 million—for soccer”, and that in exchange, he would spend $40 million for the franchise fee to bring a new Major League Soccer team to Portland.[4] MLS was in support of the proposal, wanting to continue to expand the number of owners in the league (for a while, all of its teams were owned by three men: Philip Anschutz, Lamar Hunt, and Robert Kraft).
Though supporting the acquisition of an MLS franchise raised numerous issues for Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland City Council,[7] the Timbers were announced as Major League Soccer’s eighteenth team on March 20, 2009, by Commissioner Don Garber.[8] The announcement occurred during the first and second-round games of the 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament that were held in Portland.[9] The announcement noted that the team would retain the Portland Timbers name.[10]
Former forward and Colorado Rapids assistant coach John Spencer was named the first head coach of the Timbers on August 10, 2010. It was also announced that former head coach Gavin Wilkinson of the USL-1/USSF D-2 Timbers, was promoted as the general manager/technical director of the team.[11]
The Timbers signed five players before the MLS Expansion Draft on November 24, 2010. Three were part of the Timbers D-2 Pro League squad in 2010 (Steve Cronin, Bright Dike, and Ryan Pore), one was signed from D-2 Pro League team Austin Aztex (forward Eddie Johnson) and one was acquired via trade with New York Red Bulls (midfielder Jeremy Hall). On November 24, 2010, the Timbers, along with the other 2011 expansion team, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, participated in an MLS Expansion Draft, each selecting 10 players from existing teams.[12] Immediately after the Expansion Draft, the Timbers announced the trade of their first pick (midfielder Dax McCarty), from FC Dallas to D.C. United for defender Rodney Wallace.[13] The Timbers and Whitecaps also participated in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft on January 13, 2011, with the Whitecaps having the first pick, and the Timbers having the second pick. Vancouver surprised some by selecting youngster Omar Salgado and Portland swiftly selected Akron midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe.[14]
The Timbers played their first MLS game on March 19, 2011, against reigning MLS champions Colorado Rapids, but lost 3–1. The first goal in the Timbers’ MLS era was scored by Kenny Cooper.[15] In their first season, the Portland Timbers finished in 6th place in the Western Conference and 12th place overall.
On July 9, 2012, John Spencer was fired after a 0–3 loss to Real Salt Lake.[16][17] Gavin Wilkinson took over on an interim basis for the rest of the season.[18] The Timbers finished 2012 with the third-worst record in the league and was 8th out of 9th in the Western Conference.[19] They did, however, win the Cascadia Cup in MLS for the first time.
