Football Partnerships

Portland Beavers owner Merritt Paulson said Thursday he has asked the city to delay a critical vote schedule for next week on development agreements for two stadium projects.

The City Council this week was set to vote on predevelopment agreements with Paulson for a $33.7 million upgrade of PGE Park for a Major League Soccer franchise and a new $55 million baseball stadium in the Rose Quarter for the Beavers.

Mayor Sam Adams on Monday decided to delay the vote until April 29 after a public outcry over plans to demolish the Memorial Coliseum to make room for the new baseball park.

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By Anthony Effinger

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and multimillionaire Henry Paulson spent much of his last year in office trying to save global capitalism.

His son, Merritt, spent much of the last year trying to bring Major League Soccer to Portland, Oregon. His job seemed much easier — until last month.

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By Ryan Frank, Helen Jung and Mark Larabee

Soccer fans recently celebrated Portland’s newest big-league team, but Merritt Paulson’s proposal to bring Major League Soccer to town rests on a shaky and expensive financial plan that’s far from finished.

Paulson’s $88.8 million deal with the city is weighed down with a $26.8 million hole. The city also must move $36.2 million in costly, hard-to-sell bonds amid the worst financial crisis in decades.

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Portland became the 18th U.S. Major League Soccer team when the league awarded a franchise on Friday to Merritt Paulson, a former basketball marketing executive who also owns the city’s minor league baseball team.

When his team, the Portland Timbers, debuts in 2011 it will set up a regional rivalry with the nearby Seattle Sounders, new to the league this year, and the Vancouver Whitecaps, also set to join MLS in 2011.

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By Beau Dure

Major League Soccer expansion bids in St. Louis and Portland, Ore., took steps forward Wednesday.

In Portland, the City Council voted 3-2 on a nonbinding measure supporting a deal to renovate PGE Park for a prospective MLS team and build a new baseball stadium elsewhere. PGE Park is currently shared by the USL’s Portland Timbers and the Portland Beavers, a minor-league baseball team.

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