And It's Seattle Edging Portland, and -OH! - Look Out, Here Comes Vegas Turning Into the Stretch...

...and, with that, I have composed my longest-ever title. Yesss....

If the evil, evil (oh, so profoundly evil) Oregonlive.com did not forbid my registration from taking, I might have stopped by the Timber Blog to see to Bob Kellett, "You monster. You beat me to the punch on this post." But it does, so I didn't...which is why I'm doing it here.

As you may have guessed, Bob Kellett did, in fact, note that, due to the existence of a soccer-ready surface at Seattle's Qwest Field, the Seattle area enjoys an early leg-up in the "qwest" (tee hee hee) to bring a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise to the Pacific Northwest. It takes a certain kind of half-baked thinking to read anything else into the language used by inside-track (only track?) investor, James Keston, when he says, ""I think the best opportunity to play immediately would come playing in Qwest." As such, it would seem Seattle's odds look a lot better - especially when one takes into account Kellett's point about the absence of action among Portland's political leadership.

Then again, the timer just went off on one particular half-baked line of thinking to make a long-shot counter-point to the apparent upside of Qwest. There's a reason why Keston should be wary of the situation in Seattle: Qwest Field could be a trap. Here's the thing: there's a very real risk that a Seattle-based MLS franchise would start play at Qwest Field, only to find the Seattle-area public unwilling to pony up for a soccer-specific facility.

So, the question for MLS and Keston is, what constitutes a bigger headache: the short-term problem of figuring out how, or even whether, to share a facility with two teams and a crappy field (PGE Park), but with (possibly) greater potential for making it their own versus the long-term problem of getting held hostage in a giganto-motherfucker of a stadium by a public whose fists tighten at the thought of spending on sports teams? So long as the equation plays out like that - and, honestly, I have no idea as to whether it does - I'm not sure that Portland looks so bad for a market.

At the same time, given recent developments in las vegas real estate, Nevada (not to mention the noises coming out of the Bay Area), it's possible that Keston will have a little more time than he may want to let events and actions on the ground flesh out a bit more. Promising as a return to the Bay Area is looking lately, the Vegas bid looks like it's coming together big and fast - in a word, like gang-busters. Put another way, given a solid bid on the table from Vegas, Keston has no clear reason to rush into either Pacific Northwest city.

Speaking for myself, I'm getting a little wary of that short dead-line of Keston's...

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MLS to Vegas: The Yeas Have It

I won't pretend to be the first to this story, but I do want to add my voice of commendation and support to the budding, yet amply enthusiastic effort to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Las Vegas. Yes!

Both Blue-Blooded Journo and The Offside Rules have posted in favor, but it's the former who makes the obvious point:

"Besides, if you could only make one away trip a year, would it be to Las Vegas or Columbus? I thought so."

Before Columbus fans get uppity, let me just acknowledge the same statement likely applies to Portland, Oregon. Hell, in my book only one MLS market tops Vegas for visiting: NYC. So, yes, yes, yes, to a Vegas bid. They can make Gamblor the mascot (believe it or not, that's the first image that comes up on a google image search; the link explains the line).



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