Season Tickets and Home Opener Sold Out, Waiting List Created

by Geoff Gibson on Mar 23, 2011 11:36 AM PDT

I'm not terribly sure how I missed this in my inbox, but apparently, as of yesterday, our team has officially sold all 12,500 season tickets and has created a waiting list for the 2012 season. This is fantastic news for the team as it shows that we have a committed fan base for the entirety of the year. It also means the chances that each and every game this year is sold out is relatively high, especially when paired up with the near-sold out half-season tickets.

In related news, the Portland Timbers have also announced the the home opener against the Chicago Fire on April 14th is also completely sold out. If you were planning on showing up the day of and getting in as was common in years prior then you're out of luck. I would expect most games this season, if not all, to fall along a similar path.

Huge congratulations to the Portland Timbers FO who has worked tirelessly to bring this kind of hype and attention to the club, despite a first game loss, we can at least rest assured that our team will be successful off the field.

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Only home opener?

I tried getting sounder game tickets when it went on sale and it could not find any. I was looking for a pair of tickets, maybe only single seats left?

Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.

by lysander on Mar 23, 2011 12:25 PM PDT reply actions

Sounders game too

I just tried gettign a single game ticket any where any price and struck out at Ticketmaster. So I take that to mean the Sounders game is sold out too.

Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.

by lysander on Mar 23, 2011 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Sounders seats are obstructed only

I think you have to call for them.

I also think the Sounders are getting a sizeable alotment for their ilk. I’d call their office and see what their plan is.

Unless of course you want to wear a No Pity scarf and when you root you root for the Timbers. ;)

"I have something 95 percent of all those All-Stars only wish they had: a World Series ring. If I had to choose between that and being an All-Star, it would be no contest. I’d grab the gold ring and never look back." -Tim Salmon

by BruinHalo on Mar 23, 2011 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Obstructed view tickets are only available at the box office

Blazers win!

by The X-man on Mar 23, 2011 1:19 PM PDT up reply actions

That was the only one announced...

I’ve heard the LA, Seattle and New York games are almost sold out though.

RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS

by Geoff Gibson on Mar 23, 2011 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions

So does this mean

The Timbers already need a bigger venue?

by ZenGarden on Mar 23, 2011 12:51 PM PDT reply actions

Nope

it means initial demand was as they expected it to be. I would expect that if Portland struggles in the standings this year, there will be empty seats at not-PGE next season – not a ton, but built into this year’s attendance is the fact that a lot of people are going to their first soccer game, and a not-insignificant portion of those people won’t be back for a second, or might only go once a year or something.

I think for the Portland market, the stadium’s pretty perfectly sized.

by pdb on Mar 23, 2011 12:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Nope...

To add onto pdb,

There’s simply no way the Timbers could move from Piggy anytime soon. The downtown, central location makes it the absolute best stadium in MLS right now and moving out to the burbs simply to add a few more thousand seats would be detrimental.

Could the Timbers add more seats in the future? Thats a possibility, although I know there are city stipulations, a creek that runs under the stadium and a deal with the MAC that requires unobstructed view from the south side.

RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS

by Geoff Gibson on Mar 23, 2011 1:05 PM PDT up reply actions

I believe they currently have the ability to add a few hundred more seats without construction should the need arise

but anything more would require construction, which means money, planning permission, all that stuff. And I don’t think Paulson and the FO want to go through that process again just having gone through it this winter.

by pdb on Mar 23, 2011 1:11 PM PDT up reply actions

And...

This is the first season so there’s going to be a lot of hype. What happens four years down the road if we finish at the bottom of the table every year? We need to wait this out.

Also, Portlanders are known to have a sick fascination for waiting in lines (Voodoo Donuts? Pine State Biscuit? Saburos?) so I think having high demand is a good thing.

by The Stoic on Mar 23, 2011 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions

I will never understand why people wait in line for Voodoo Doughnuts

They’re just doughnuts, people.

by pdb on Mar 23, 2011 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions

bacon maple bar > donuts

Blazers win!

by The X-man on Mar 24, 2011 1:24 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

This

Rec’d

by BruinHalo on Mar 24, 2011 2:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Thats a good point

Fenway is one of the smallest stadiums in baseball(third, I think), and the Sox seem to do ok every year, financially and competitively. The important thing is putting on a good product. That and branding. It helps that our delightful neighbors to the north seem hellbent on pissing off every non Seattle soccer fan in the country, which gives us a nice evil empire angle to play up in the future ;)

Hey, You're not dressed for an afternoon of Tchaikovsky and heavy petting!

by No Pity on Mar 23, 2011 1:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Just saw...

News from Toronto, the team that started this MLS 2.0 fan revolution, is that they won’t sell out their home opener. There’s a waiting list for season tickets, but they still won’t sell out their home opener!

Don’t get too excited about stadium expansion. We’re going to ride this out for a while.

by The Stoic on Mar 24, 2011 2:50 PM PDT up reply actions

This is probably an obnoxious comment...

but they could always convert the North End to terraces to increase capacity. Now that the TA Supporters Section is completely sold out for season tickets maybe the FO could get comfortable with the investment. I remember Merritt making a comment at one point that they wouldn’t want to do an only partial conversion iirc. Crush barriers with cup holders please.

by baumerpdx on Mar 23, 2011 10:22 PM PDT up reply actions

Terraces are a bad idea for a lot of reasons

Potential for injury being one – crush barriers with cup holders are basically stomach wounds waiting to happen. Overcapacity fears being another – with nothing but a security guard or three to stop people moving to the terraces, there’s nothing to stop twice as many people cramming in as the sections would be designed for. It just seems terraces are accidents waiting to happen – not Hillsborough or Heysel scale accidents, but still.

by pdb on Mar 24, 2011 7:02 AM PDT up reply actions