Portland [1] is more a town for athletes than for devotees of spectator sports. Nonetheless, professional sports teams in the Rose City draw huge crowds.
Tickets for all of these teams’ games are available through Ticketmaster (800/277-1700, www.ticketmaster.com [2]).
Directly across the Willamette River from downtown in Northeast Portland [3], the Rose Quarter area is home to two of Portland’s sports stadia. The largest (20,339 seats) and newest is the Rose Garden Arena [4] (at the east end of the Steel Bridge, 503/235-8771, www.rosequarter.com [5]), which is home to the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trailblazers.
While most seats are reserved for season-ticket holders, some are available at Ticketmaster outlets or through the Rose Garden arena box office (503/797-9619). Of course, there are always the offerings of ticket brokers advertised in the Oregonian or on Craigslist (www.craigslist.org [6]); or you can try your luck with the scalpers who may be found beyond a four-block radius of the Rose Garden.
It’s best to call the Blazer ticket line or check with Ticketmaster well in advance. You can also buy tickets directly from the Blazer website (www.nba.com/blazers/ [7]). Regular season play is October–April.
The Rose Garden Arena is also home to the Portland Lumberjax, Portland’s professional indoor lacrosse team. The Jax’s regular season runs January–April.
Adjacent to the Rose Garden Arena is the 12,000-seat Memorial Coliseum (1401 N. Wheeler Ave., 503/235-8771), which hosts sporting events, concerts, and other local teams, including the Winter Hawks (503/238-6366, www.winterhawks.com [8]), a minor-league team in the Western Hockey League. Both these arenas are easily reached on the MAX train (take the train to Rose Quarter Transit Center).
Across the river, PGE Park (1844 SW Morrison St., 503/553-5400, www.pgepark.com [9]) is a 19,500-seat open air stadium that’s home to professional soccer’s Portland Timbers.
The Portland Beavers (503/553-5510, www.portlandbeavers.com [10]), the city’s Triple A baseball team, has had PGE Park as its home for many years; at press time, however, it seems that the Beavers will be looking for a new Portland-area stadium for its post-2011 seasons.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/portland
[2] http://www.ticketmaster.com
[3] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/portland/sights/north-and-northeast-portland
[4] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/portland/sights/north-and-northeast-portland/lloyd-district
[5] http://www.rosequarter.com
[6] http://www.craigslist.org
[7] http://www.nba.com/blazers/
[8] http://www.winterhawks.com
[9] http://www.pgepark.com
[10] http://www.portlandbeavers.com