Opening Day: October 9, 1926
Capacity: 19,000
Surface: FieldTurf
Current Owner: City of Portland
Team Website: timbers.com
Team Phone: 503/553-5405
Address: 1944 SW Morrison St., Portland, OR 97205
Directions:
From South: take I-5 north to exit 299B toward City Center, then merge onto I-405 N through exit 1A, and then take exit 2A, which is the Providence Park/Salmon St. exit. After that, take a right onto SW 14th Avenue, then left onto SW Taylor St., then right onto SW 18th Avenue, and then take a left onto SW Morrison St. to reach the stadium.
From North: Take I-5 south to exit 302B and merge onto I-405, then take exit 2A to Burnside and go straight to 15th Avenue. Turn right on Morrison Street to enter stadium.
From East: Take I-84 West to the I-5 exit on the left, then take the City Center exit and make a rightonto Morrison Bridge. Follow and turn left onto SW Washington Street. Go left onto SW 13th Avenue and then right onto SW Morrison Street.
From West: Take US-26E to the Canyon Road exit heading toward Providence Park. Merge onto SW Jefferson Street and turn left at SW 20th Avenue.
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The oldest stadium in the MLS circuit, Providence Park has hosted four generations of Portland Timbers, beginning in 1975 with the original North American Soccer League team, who disbanded in 1982. The name has been revived three times for three different teams/leagues: once in 1985-90 for the Western Soccer Alliance/American Professional Soccer League team, and then as the 2001-2010 Portland Timbers, who played in various second tier leagues before joining the MLS in 2010.
The stadium itself has undergone numerous name changes. It began as Multnomah Field/Stadium, named for the Multnomah Athletic Club, who owned the Park, before becoming Civic Stadium, PGE Park and Jeld-Wen Field. Although Multnomah had hosted games at the site since 1893, the stadium itself was not built until 1926. Most recently, the Park was renamed after Providence Health & Services bought naming rights to the park earlier in 2014. The park was also host to a variety of other sports, ranging from minor league baseball (Portland Beavers) to college football (the University of Oregon Ducks played a handful of games at the Park annually between 1894 and 1970). Today, Providence Park is mostly soccer, since both the Timbers and their National Women’s Soccer League, the Portland Thorns, play there. Curiously, Providence Park is also home to a feral cat colony of indeterminate numbers
Providence Park has undergone several renovations, most recently between 2010 and 2011. Among the park’s updates included laying down FieldTurf Duraspine Pro, which garnered them a FIFA 2-star recommendation. This makes them the only FIFA recommended field in Oregon. Other new additions included a east side seating area with special access to the KeyBank Club restaurant, the 2,200 square foot Community Room, the Budweiser Balcony in the northeast corner of the stadium and a new Timbers paraphernalia store. The FieldTurf was recently updated in anticipation of the 2014 season and beyond.