PGE Park
Encyclopedia
Jeld-Wen Field is an outdoor sports stadium located in Portland, Oregon
, United States
that is used primarily for soccer and American football
. It opened in 1926 and underwent major renovations in 2001, with naming rights being bought by Portland General Electric
(PGE), and again in 2011 when the naming rights were sold to Jeld-Wen
in preparation for the 2011 Major League Soccer season
. The stadium sits on a rectangular block bounded by Southwest Morrison Street, Southwest 18th Avenue, the Athletic Club
building and Southwest Salmon Street, and Southwest 20th Avenue.
Portland Timbers
and Portland State University Vikings
football. The stadium underwent a $31 million renovation in late 2010 and early 2011. The stadium is owned by the City of Portland, and is managed by Peregrine Sports, LLC, the entity that owns Portland Timbers
. Prior to the 2011 MLS season, the stadium was re-named Jeld-Wen Field from PGE Park, in a partnership with Klamath Falls, Oregon
based company Jeld-Wen.
The Multnomah Athletic Club
, an exclusive athletic club
in downtown Portland, stands next door; the windows of the north side of the club's building overlook the field.
The Interstate 405
freeway in Portland is also known locally as the Stadium Freeway and travels near the stadium. In addition, the Jeld-Wen Field
MAX Light Rail station is across the street. The property slopes significantly downhill from the north end to the south end, with the result that the playing surface sits well below street level.
MLS
team and the Portland State University Vikings
football
team.
minor-league baseball
team of the Pacific Coast League
played at the stadium from 1956 to through 1993, and again from 2001 to 2010. Plans for a new stadium for the Beavers in 2010 did not come to fruition and team owner Merritt Paulson
put the Beavers up for sale. The club's major-league
parent, the San Diego Padres
, purchased the team, which will play in Tucson, Arizona
as the Tucson Padres until a new stadium in the San Diego suburb of Escondido
is completed in 2013. The team played its final game at the stadium on September 6, 2010.
From 1973 to 1977, the stadium hosted the minor league baseball Portland Mavericks
, and 1995 to 2000, the Portland Rockies
. The stadium hosted the old Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League
from 1975 through 1982, and the USFL
's Portland Breakers
, as well as the Portland Storm
and Portland Thunder of the WFL
.
between the University of Oregon
and Oregon State University
), cricket matches and greyhound racing
. Until larger campus stadiums were built in the 1960s, most significant football games hosted by Oregon and Oregon State were held at the stadium because of its larger capacity. The University of Washington
played all its road games against Oregon and Oregon State at Multnomah Stadium until 1966 (OSU) and 1967 (Oregon). The stadium also hosted the Portland Rose Festival
coronation and a Fourth of July appearance by President Warren G. Harding
.
moved to the stadium after their original field, Vaughn Street Park
, was condemned. In 1966, the Multnomah Athletic Club sold the stadium for $2.1 million to the city of Portland, which renamed it Civic Stadium.
A $38.5 million renovation took place in 2001, adding new luxury suites and club seats that replaced the seats behind home plate and upgrading the seating and concourse area. The renovation also improved the structural soundness of the facility, and included a state-of-the-art sound system. The renovation also includes some retro-features, such as a manually operated baseball scoreboard. At that point, PGE
bought the naming rights and renamed the stadium PGE Park.
. By reconfiguring the stadium primarily for soccer and football, the renovation meant that the Portland Beavers needed to move to a new stadium, which was never built, forcing the team to leave Portland.
Early reports indicated that about 6,500 seats would be added, but a later presentation to the Portland Design Commission indicated that only 5,000 seats would be added bringing top capacity to about 22,000, but with only about 18,000 available for use on a regular basis. The announced attendance at Timbers games in 2011 was 18,627, a sell-out, until a few thousand seats were added for two games late in the season. The renovation met Major League Soccer standards, introduced new amenities and a new playing surface, and shifted the playing surface west and north, and added space on the east and south sides, with new seating areas. The Lighthouse Impact 16 main video screen was designed by Anthony James Partners and features over 74 square meters of LED video. A Lighthouse B10 pitchside display runs the length of Jeld Wen Field’s east side plus portions of the north and south ends and is over 152 meters long. As the project was nearing completion, it was revealed to be $5 million over budget making the total cost of the renovation $36 million. The agreement between the city and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson meant that Paulson was responsible for any cost overruns larger than $1 million.
The newly renovated stadium made its debut on April 14, 2011 when Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers defeated the Chicago Fire 4–2.
performed one of the first outdoor stadium rock concerts in music history (Elvis held the first ever in Vancouver, BC, Canada just a few days earlier at Empire Stadium) here on his four day tour of the Pacific Northwest. The concert created mass hysteria and an estimated 14,000 people attended the concert.
On August 28, 1977, it was site of the North American Soccer League
Soccer Bowl
between the New York Cosmos
and the Seattle Sounders
, which was to be the last official game of the legendary Pelé
as the Cosmos won the championship.
During the 1970s, the Jantzen swim wear company had a 3D model of the Jantzen girl hovering overby cable over the left field wall in its baseball configuration. The Jantzen girl was in play because it was below the top of the wall and it was hit a couple of times over the years.
On May 27, 1991, the stadium received national attention when Vancouver Canadians
outfielder Rodney McCray
, while attempting to catch a fly ball, literally crashed through a wooden advertising behind the warning track
in right-center field, just to the right of the 369-foot sign; a real-life version of an incident in the fictional book and film, The Natural
. While McCray failed to make the out, he only suffered scrapes and bruises in the incident (unlike the fictional "Bump Bailey", whose injuries were fatal), and remained in the game. Highlight reels of that play ran for weeks on cable channels such as CNN
and ESPN
. On August 12, 2006, the Beavers commemorated the event with a Rodney McCray Bobblehead Night, passing out bobbleheads of McCray to fans and renaming right-center field "McCray Alley".
The stadium was the site of four group matches in the 1999 Women's World Cup
and hosted two group matches, two quarterfinals, and both semifinals in the 2003 Women's World Cup
.
On October 27, 2007, the stadium hosted the highest-scoring game in modern NCAA football
history, when the Weber State University
Wildcats defeated the PSU Vikings 73-68
, a combined point total of 141 points. This point total eclipsed the previous NCAA record of 136 points, set in a 1968 Division III game, and the previous Division I record of 133 points, set in 2004. While this record lasted only two weeks, and has been surpassed three times in all, it remains the highest-scoring game involving NCAA Division I teams. (The actual all-time college record was the 222-0 win by Georgia Tech over Cumberland in 1916.)
On July 1, 2009, the venue hosted the third-round match of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
between the Portland Timbers
and their rivals the Seattle Sounders FC
. On July 15, 2009, it hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game
, with the International League stars defeating the Pacific Coast league 6–5. 16,657 fans attended the game, the largest crowd for a Triple-A All-Star game since 1991, and the third largest ever.
colony since approximately 1985, and may have been at the park before the current stadium opened in 1926. There are an estimated 12-19 cats in the colony, referred to as "living rat traps". After a construction worker killed a feral cat in 2000, the park enlisted the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon
to assist the animals during construction efforts and to run a Trap-Neuter-Return
program. The cats are discussed in Chuck Palahniuk
's travelogue of Portland, Fugitives and Refugees.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that is used primarily for soccer and American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. It opened in 1926 and underwent major renovations in 2001, with naming rights being bought by Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric is an electrical utility based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - half of the inhabitants of Oregon...
(PGE), and again in 2011 when the naming rights were sold to Jeld-Wen
JELD-WEN
Jeld-Wen is a corporation with over 150 divisions and 20,000 employees worldwide. The business manufactures building products, including windows, interior and exterior doors, and garage doors. Jeld-Wen owns several distribution facilities and operates several resort properties...
in preparation for the 2011 Major League Soccer season
2011 Major League Soccer season
The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver...
. The stadium sits on a rectangular block bounded by Southwest Morrison Street, Southwest 18th Avenue, the Athletic Club
Multnomah Athletic Club
The Multnomah Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in Portland, Oregon, United States.Founded in 1891, the club has expanded greatly from its beginnings. It now fills two buildings totaling , making it the largest indoor athletic club in the world...
building and Southwest Salmon Street, and Southwest 20th Avenue.
Description
Jeld-Wen Field is an outdoor stadium which houses the MLSMajor League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams:*Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in 2011....
and Portland State University Vikings
Portland State Vikings
Portland State Vikings is the nickname of the NCAA-affiliated, intercollegiate athletic teams representing Portland State University of Portland, Oregon...
football. The stadium underwent a $31 million renovation in late 2010 and early 2011. The stadium is owned by the City of Portland, and is managed by Peregrine Sports, LLC, the entity that owns Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams:*Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in 2011....
. Prior to the 2011 MLS season, the stadium was re-named Jeld-Wen Field from PGE Park, in a partnership with Klamath Falls, Oregon
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Klamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...
based company Jeld-Wen.
The Multnomah Athletic Club
Multnomah Athletic Club
The Multnomah Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in Portland, Oregon, United States.Founded in 1891, the club has expanded greatly from its beginnings. It now fills two buildings totaling , making it the largest indoor athletic club in the world...
, an exclusive athletic club
Sports club
A sports club or sport club, sometimes athletics club or sports association is a club for the purpose of playing one or more sports...
in downtown Portland, stands next door; the windows of the north side of the club's building overlook the field.
The Interstate 405
Interstate 405 (Oregon)
Interstate 405 is a short Interstate Highway in Portland, Oregon. It forms a loop from Interstate 5 that travels through downtown Portland west of the Willamette River.-Route description:...
freeway in Portland is also known locally as the Stadium Freeway and travels near the stadium. In addition, the Jeld-Wen Field
Jeld-Wen Field (MAX station)
Jeld-Wen Field station is a light rail station on the MAX Blue and Red lines located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is named after the adjacent stadium, Jeld-Wen Field. The station, consisting of separate east and westbound platforms built into city sidewalks between SW...
MAX Light Rail station is across the street. The property slopes significantly downhill from the north end to the south end, with the result that the playing surface sits well below street level.
Tenants
The stadium is currently home to the Portland TimbersPortland Timbers
Portland Timbers may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams:*Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in 2011....
MLS
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
team and the Portland State University Vikings
Portland State Vikings
Portland State Vikings is the nickname of the NCAA-affiliated, intercollegiate athletic teams representing Portland State University of Portland, Oregon...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team.
Former tenants
The Portland BeaversPortland Beavers
The Tucson Padres are a minor league baseball team, representing Tucson, Arizona, in the Pacific Coast League . They are the Triple-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The team was formerly known as the Portland Beavers and played its last home game at PGE Park on September 6, 2010...
minor-league baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
played at the stadium from 1956 to through 1993, and again from 2001 to 2010. Plans for a new stadium for the Beavers in 2010 did not come to fruition and team owner Merritt Paulson
Merritt Paulson
Henry Merritt Paulson III is the majority owner of Peregrine Sports, LLC which owns the Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer team based in Portland, Oregon.-Personal:...
put the Beavers up for sale. The club's major-league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
parent, the San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
, purchased the team, which will play in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
as the Tucson Padres until a new stadium in the San Diego suburb of Escondido
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...
is completed in 2013. The team played its final game at the stadium on September 6, 2010.
From 1973 to 1977, the stadium hosted the minor league baseball Portland Mavericks
Portland Mavericks
The Portland Mavericks were a minor league baseball team in Portland, Oregon, United States. They began play in the Class A Northwest League in 1973 after the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League moved to Spokane, Washington. The Mavericks were owned by ex-minor league player and television...
, and 1995 to 2000, the Portland Rockies
Portland Rockies
The Portland Rockies were a minor-league baseball team that played in Portland, Oregon from 1995-2000. They were a rookie league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Their name and logo mimicked the mountain theme of the Colorado club, even though Portland is not located in the Rocky Mountains...
. The stadium hosted the old Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
from 1975 through 1982, and the USFL
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
's Portland Breakers
Portland Breakers
The Portland Breakers were a professional American Football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. Before moving to Portland, Oregon, the franchise was previously in Boston, Massachusetts as the Boston Breakers and New Orleans, Louisiana as the New Orleans...
, as well as the Portland Storm
Portland Storm
The Portland Storm were an American football team based out of Portland, Oregon, playing in the World Football League. When the World Football League was created in October 1973, the Storm was the original New York franchise. When the Boston Bulls merged with New York to become the New York...
and Portland Thunder of the WFL
World Football League
The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...
.
History
The stadium was built by the Multnomah Athletic Club in 1926, though playing fields and earlier stadiums had stood on the site since 1893. Originally known as Multnomah Stadium, the site was used for college football (including seven Civil War gamesCivil War (college football game)
The Civil War is the colloquial name for an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oregon Ducks football team of the University of Oregon and the Oregon State Beavers football team of the Oregon State University...
between the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
and Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
), cricket matches and greyhound racing
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
. Until larger campus stadiums were built in the 1960s, most significant football games hosted by Oregon and Oregon State were held at the stadium because of its larger capacity. The University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
played all its road games against Oregon and Oregon State at Multnomah Stadium until 1966 (OSU) and 1967 (Oregon). The stadium also hosted the Portland Rose Festival
Portland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region...
coronation and a Fourth of July appearance by President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
.
Early renaming and renovations
In the 1950s, the Portland BeaversPortland Beavers
The Tucson Padres are a minor league baseball team, representing Tucson, Arizona, in the Pacific Coast League . They are the Triple-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The team was formerly known as the Portland Beavers and played its last home game at PGE Park on September 6, 2010...
moved to the stadium after their original field, Vaughn Street Park
Vaughn Street Park
Vaughn Street Park was a baseball park located in Portland, Oregon. It opened in 1901, and was torn down in 1956. Its primary tenant was the Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League team...
, was condemned. In 1966, the Multnomah Athletic Club sold the stadium for $2.1 million to the city of Portland, which renamed it Civic Stadium.
A $38.5 million renovation took place in 2001, adding new luxury suites and club seats that replaced the seats behind home plate and upgrading the seating and concourse area. The renovation also improved the structural soundness of the facility, and included a state-of-the-art sound system. The renovation also includes some retro-features, such as a manually operated baseball scoreboard. At that point, PGE
Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric is an electrical utility based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - half of the inhabitants of Oregon...
bought the naming rights and renamed the stadium PGE Park.
2011 renovation
In July 2009, the Portland city council approved a $31 million renovation to make it ready for the 2011 Major League Soccer season2011 Major League Soccer season
The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver...
. By reconfiguring the stadium primarily for soccer and football, the renovation meant that the Portland Beavers needed to move to a new stadium, which was never built, forcing the team to leave Portland.
Early reports indicated that about 6,500 seats would be added, but a later presentation to the Portland Design Commission indicated that only 5,000 seats would be added bringing top capacity to about 22,000, but with only about 18,000 available for use on a regular basis. The announced attendance at Timbers games in 2011 was 18,627, a sell-out, until a few thousand seats were added for two games late in the season. The renovation met Major League Soccer standards, introduced new amenities and a new playing surface, and shifted the playing surface west and north, and added space on the east and south sides, with new seating areas. The Lighthouse Impact 16 main video screen was designed by Anthony James Partners and features over 74 square meters of LED video. A Lighthouse B10 pitchside display runs the length of Jeld Wen Field’s east side plus portions of the north and south ends and is over 152 meters long. As the project was nearing completion, it was revealed to be $5 million over budget making the total cost of the renovation $36 million. The agreement between the city and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson meant that Paulson was responsible for any cost overruns larger than $1 million.
The newly renovated stadium made its debut on April 14, 2011 when Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers defeated the Chicago Fire 4–2.
Noteworthy events
On September 2, 1957, Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
performed one of the first outdoor stadium rock concerts in music history (Elvis held the first ever in Vancouver, BC, Canada just a few days earlier at Empire Stadium) here on his four day tour of the Pacific Northwest. The concert created mass hysteria and an estimated 14,000 people attended the concert.
On August 28, 1977, it was site of the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
Soccer Bowl
Soccer Bowl
The Soccer Bowl was the championship game of the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1983. The event was created by NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam who was trying to build a neutral-site championship event in the mold of the NFL's Super Bowl....
between the New York Cosmos
New York Cosmos
The New York Cosmos were an American soccer club based in New York City, New York and its suburbs. The team played home games in three stadiums around New York before moving in 1977 to Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, where it remained for the rest of its history...
and the Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders (NASL)
The Seattle Sounders were a U.S. professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1974, the team belonged to the North American Soccer League where it played both indoor and outdoor soccer. The team folded after the 1983 NASL outdoor season.-Stadium:The Sounders played at Memorial...
, which was to be the last official game of the legendary Pelé
Pelé
However, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
as the Cosmos won the championship.
During the 1970s, the Jantzen swim wear company had a 3D model of the Jantzen girl hovering overby cable over the left field wall in its baseball configuration. The Jantzen girl was in play because it was below the top of the wall and it was hit a couple of times over the years.
On May 27, 1991, the stadium received national attention when Vancouver Canadians
Vancouver Canadians
The Vancouver Canadians are a minor league baseball team located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Canadians are the Northwest League affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The C's have previously affiliated with the Oakland Athletics between 2000-2010. They are the only Canadian team in the...
outfielder Rodney McCray
Rodney McCray (baseball)
Rodney Duncan McCray is a former American professional baseball player who is best known for crashing through an outfield fence attempting to make a catch. He also had a brief career in Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets from 1990 to 1992.Born in Detroit, Rodney's...
, while attempting to catch a fly ball, literally crashed through a wooden advertising behind the warning track
Warning track
A warning track is the term for the part of the baseball field that is closest to the wall or fence and is typically made of dirt, instead of grass or artificial turf like most of the field. It runs parallel to the ballpark's wall and looks like a running track...
in right-center field, just to the right of the 369-foot sign; a real-life version of an incident in the fictional book and film, The Natural
The Natural
The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman who seeks to kill arrogant athletes to "better the world"...
. While McCray failed to make the out, he only suffered scrapes and bruises in the incident (unlike the fictional "Bump Bailey", whose injuries were fatal), and remained in the game. Highlight reels of that play ran for weeks on cable channels such as CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. On August 12, 2006, the Beavers commemorated the event with a Rodney McCray Bobblehead Night, passing out bobbleheads of McCray to fans and renaming right-center field "McCray Alley".
The stadium was the site of four group matches in the 1999 Women's World Cup
FIFA Women's World Cup 1999
-Teams:16 teams participated in the final tournament. The teams were:-Squads:For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup squads.-Match officials:...
and hosted two group matches, two quarterfinals, and both semifinals in the 2003 Women's World Cup
FIFA Women's World Cup 2003
The FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 was held in the United States and won by Germany. The tournament was originally scheduled for China. On May 3, 2003 the tournament was abruptly moved to the United States, as a result of the 2003 SARS outbreak in China...
.
On October 27, 2007, the stadium hosted the highest-scoring game in modern NCAA football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
history, when the Weber State University
Weber State University
Weber State University is a public university located in the city of Ogden in Weber County, Utah, USA. It was founded in 1889 and is a coeducational, publicly supported university offering professional, liberal arts and technical certificates, as well as associate, bachelor's and master's degrees...
Wildcats defeated the PSU Vikings 73-68
2007 Weber State vs. Portland State football game
The 2007 Weber State-Portland State football game was a college football game held on October 23 at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon. It pitted the Portland State Vikings against the Weber State Wildcats. The Wildcats defeated the Vikings 73-68...
, a combined point total of 141 points. This point total eclipsed the previous NCAA record of 136 points, set in a 1968 Division III game, and the previous Division I record of 133 points, set in 2004. While this record lasted only two weeks, and has been surpassed three times in all, it remains the highest-scoring game involving NCAA Division I teams. (The actual all-time college record was the 222-0 win by Georgia Tech over Cumberland in 1916.)
On July 1, 2009, the venue hosted the third-round match of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is a knockout tournament in American soccer. The tournament is the oldest ongoing American soccer competition and is presently open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League...
between the Portland Timbers
Portland Timbers (USL)
Portland Timbers was an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 2001, the team played in various leagues at the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, including the USL First Division and the USSF Division 2 Professional League, until the end of...
and their rivals the Seattle Sounders FC
Seattle Sounders FC
Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...
. On July 15, 2009, it hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game
Triple-A All-Star Game
The Triple-A All-Star Game is a single baseball game held between the two Triple-A leagues in minor league baseball—the International League and the Pacific Coast League...
, with the International League stars defeating the Pacific Coast league 6–5. 16,657 fans attended the game, the largest crowd for a Triple-A All-Star game since 1991, and the third largest ever.
Feral cat colony
The field has been home to a feral catFeral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
colony since approximately 1985, and may have been at the park before the current stadium opened in 1926. There are an estimated 12-19 cats in the colony, referred to as "living rat traps". After a construction worker killed a feral cat in 2000, the park enlisted the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon
Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon
The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon is a Trap-Neuter-Return program based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The program's objective is to reduce feline overpopulation in Oregon by spaying and neutering stray and feral cats. The FCCO offers reduced-price spay and neuter services to caregivers of...
to assist the animals during construction efforts and to run a Trap-Neuter-Return
Trap-Neuter-Return
Trap-Neuter-Return , also known as Trap-Test-Vaccinate-Alter-Release is a method of humanely trapping unaltered feral cats, spaying or neutering them, and releasing them back to the same location where they were collected...
program. The cats are discussed in Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
's travelogue of Portland, Fugitives and Refugees.