The Portland Timbers are the “hottest ticket in town in their inaugural season in Major League Soccer and passionate fans are embracing some of the trappings of their European counterparts,” suggesting that soccer might “finally be poised to become a big-league sport in the United States,” according to a front-page piece by Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. Portland has “embraced its new MLS team like no other American city,” and being a member of the Timbers Army, the team’s "colorful fan club, has become a hip social statement among young, urban fans, many of whom also follow teams” in the EPL or La Liga. The “hottest tickets are those behind one of the goals, where 3,600 members of the Timbers Army have seats.” The Timbers’ “impressive MLS debut comes on the heels of the league’s seemingly successful forays into” Philadelphia, Toronto, Seattle and Vancouver. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Portland is a "cauldron of energy for our sport." Garber: "You have a recipe for success that we hope to replicate elsewhere in the country." Belson notes Portland’s “heady mix of rabid fans, appealing stadium and healthy corporate boosters, though, may be harder to export to other cities, notably New York, which is expected to be awarded the league’s 20th club.” 107ist President Dave Hoyt, whose foundation is associated with a group that has sold 10,000 custom-made team scarves with the proceeds going to charity, said, “We have a counterculture sense in Portland, and the Timbers Army made it more participatory” (N.Y. TIMES, 6/24).
