Professional sports in Portland (Hillsboro: live, stadium, title)

[Hockeygirl063]

Originally Posted by AnotherPDXGuy

The Seattle metro area is quite a bit larger than Portland, with a much bigger economy.

I love our local sports, and avidly follow the Blazers and most of my friends do to. I know a lot of die-hard Timbers fans.

What we won't do is publicly finance another pro stadium of any kind. Plus I think our population is still too small for an NFL team, and the Seahawks get all bunched up when it is suggested because they consider Oregon to already be "their" territory (screw that!).

Ice hockey is not a huge thing in the northwest, though going to the Winterhawks is a lot of fun. But there are not a lot of places for kids to play and get into ice hockey around here, so direct experience l is low. We may have the population to support baseball, but we just let our minor league team exit town with very little support or regret, so....

I would NHL in Portland but I know it wont happen. Yes the Winterhawks are fun to see. I wish some of the colleges had hockey as the talent is much better than junior league. East and mid west is big hockey country. Places like Minneapolis.

By the way as a city MSP is smaller than Portland and they have a team in every major pro sport (not sure on soccer) plus the Gophers and several other nearby colleges have hockey too.

There is some youth hockey but it pales in comparison to the mid west and east coast.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Hockeygirl063

By the way as a city MSP is smaller than Portland and they have a team in every major pro sport (not sure on soccer) plus the Gophers and several other nearby colleges have hockey too.

Uh...MSP is the airport code for the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, whose metro is 50% larger than the PDX metro.

But sure, Portland city population is bigger than Minneapolis city population. It's also the heart of U.S. hockey country.

As for other sports, the Vikes do draw, but the Timberwolves are perennially at/near the bottom for attendance since 2006 - i.e. other than the 2-3 years they were actually good. I don't see Portland having any more NHL draw than Columbus, and potentially more like the Atlanta scenario.

As a fan of college hockey, it's also worth noting, in the Columbus comparison, that Ohio St. had a team dating back to the 70s, and not too far away you have Miami and BGSU, so while Ohio isn't exactly a hockey hotbed, it is present.

But comparing the draw of the Wild to a hypothetical PDX hockey team is probably not the best starting foot even if the scale of the metro is somewhat comparable.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by Hockeygirl063

I would NHL in Portland but I know it wont happen. Yes the Winterhawks are fun to see. I wish some of the colleges had hockey as the talent is much better than junior league.

That's not really true though, if you look at the NHL draft more players come from the Canadian junior leagues(which includes the WHL, OHL, and QMHL) than US college hockey. There's good talent in some colleges in Boston and New England, I went to BU myself for graduate school(go Terriers) and the Upper Midwest has good players. But overall most of the players drafted in the first few rounds of the draft come from the junior leagues and then the foreign leagues and then a handful from college hockey. College hockey has had more good players drafted recently, but still it's the Canadian juniors that are really the top flight of NHL prospects.

[Hockeygirl063]

College hockey has a huge draw to the NHL and overall they skate and play much better. Plus fighting is very much frowned upon in college.

Not dissing on junior hockey it has some talented player for sure. The big tournament they have each year is great to watch and draws players from all over the world.

[Hockeygirl063]

Originally Posted by bler144

Uh...MSP is the airport code for the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, whose metro is 50% larger than the PDX metro.

But sure, Portland city population is bigger than Minneapolis city population. It's also the heart of U.S. hockey country.

As for other sports, the Vikes do draw, but the Timberwolves are perennially at/near the bottom for attendance since 2006 - i.e. other than the 2-3 years they were actually good. I don't see Portland having any more NHL draw than Columbus, and potentially more like the Atlanta scenario.

As a fan of college hockey, it's also worth noting, in the Columbus comparison, that Ohio St. had a team dating back to the 70s, and not too far away you have Miami and BGSU, so while Ohio isn't exactly a hockey hotbed, it is present.

But comparing the draw of the Wild to a hypothetical PDX hockey team is probably not the best starting foot even if the scale of the metro is somewhat comparable.

No hockey in the midwest? Michigan, Michigan State, St Cloud St., Miami, Ohio State, Notre Dame,plus besides U of Minnesota there is Minnesota State and U of Minnesota Duluth.

I was talking population wise the population of Minneapolis is 400,070 (2013) The population of Portland is 609,456 (2013).


53.97 sq miles is the land area in Minneapolis Portland land area is 133.43 sq miles. I got these from the census.gov. So if you include St Paul I suppose the land area is bigger and the population is slightly higher. The Wild actually play in St Paul that's where the Excel Energy Center is.

Just looked at college standings the Gophers are not in the top 20.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Hockeygirl063

No hockey in the midwest?

Where did I say no hockey in the midwest? I just indicated Ohio (arguably rust belt as much/more than midwest) isn't a hotbed comparatively.

I've lived in MN/WI (and IL - also not a powerhouse by comparison) and have attended the frozen four and seen Michigan take home the title. Watched LSSU play back when they were a perennial challenger.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Hockeygirl063

Just looked at college standings the Gophers are not in the top 20.

The women's team is ranked #3.

[Phrogg]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

The Blazers aren't going to come close to losing money ever again. Starting next year, all the new tv deals kick in.

Are any Blazers games still on over-the-air channels nowadays?

For that matter, which pro teams can you see in the Portland area on over-the-air channels or cable/satellite local sports channels? In other words, which MLB teams (Mariners?) can I see without the Extra Innings package, which NHL teams (Canucks?) can I see without the Center Ice package, etc.? Pretty sure Portland is within the Seahawks' territory, right?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by Phrogg

......For that matter, which pro teams can you see in the Portland area on over-the-air channels

Football is the only sport watched in my house (and not by me). Seahawks games are sometimes on, although, I get to hear a lot of complaints that almost all games are east coast teams and it is pretty rare to see any team from the west on over-the-air TV. The football fan happens to be a Chargers fan and doesn't get to see his team very often.

A lot of us Oregonians consider Seahawks to be a local team.

I'm fairly sure that the Portland basketball team gets shown on over-the-air, although no one here watches basketball, so I'm not certain. I do hear a lot about them, but that is probably on the local news.

What we'd like to see is the Ducks games and I don't think those are broadcast over-the-air. My family doesn't watch much TV, so it is not sensible to pay for cable all year road just to watch a few football games.

[Phrogg]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Football is the only sport watched in my house (and not by me). Seahawks games are sometimes on, although, I get to hear a lot of complaints that almost all games are east coast teams and it is pretty rare to see any team from the west on over-the-air TV. The football fan happens to be a Chargers fan and doesn't get to see his team very often.

A lot of us Oregonians consider Seahawks to be a local team.

I'm fairly sure that the Portland basketball team gets shown on over-the-air, although no one here watches basketball, so I'm not certain. I do hear a lot about them, but that is probably on the local news.

What we'd like to see is the Ducks games and I don't think those are broadcast over-the-air. My family doesn't watch much TV, so it is not sensible to pay for cable all year road just to watch a few football games.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I think, but am not certain, that the Ducks games are mostly on the PAC-12 Network now, which is a premium channel (or group of channels?) that is not even available on every cable/satellite provider.