PORTLAND, Ore. – With just over two weeks remaining before the much-anticipated relaunch of Providence Park when the Portland Timbers play host to Los Angeles FC on Saturday, June 1, the team announced today that it will host two soft-opening games featuring T2, its USL Championship club. T2 will first take on El Paso Locomotive FC at Providence Park on Saturday, May 25, beginning at 7 p.m. (Pacific), before playing host to Real Monarchs SLC on Wednesday, May 29, beginning at 7 p.m. (Pacific).
During the two preview games, only the westside and north end of Providence Park will be open for use as finishing details are completed to the rest of the stadium, which has undergone a privately funded, $85 million transformation for the 2019 season. For the May 25 and May 29 games, fans will be able to enter the stadium through Gate F (formerly Gate 4) on the northwest plaza. Prior to kickoff, gates will be open to fans beginning at 6:30 p.m. (Pacific). The debut of the new eastside seating structure and full reopening of the iconic venue will take place over the first weekend of June, as the Timbers mark their home opener on June 1 at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific), and Portland Thorns FC play their first home game of the season on Sunday, June 2, as they take on the Chicago Red Stars at 3 p.m. (Pacific).
“As we get closer and closer to the official relaunch of Providence Park, and for all the hard work of everyone involved to come to fruition on June 1, these T2 games are a terrific opportunity for fans to get a first glimpse of this amazing transformation and for our staff to grow with its many new features,” said Mike Golub, president of business for the Timbers. “We couldn’t be more excited for the 2019 season of events at Providence Park to officially commence.”
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Single-game tickets for the two soft-opening games are available online, by phone at (888) 983-1783 or at the Providence Park box office.
Originally built in 1926, Providence Park has undergone an extensive transformation for the 2019 season, most notably with the addition of more than 4,000 new seats on the eastside of the venue to raise the capacity to 25,218. The significant investment represents a complete relaunch of the historic stadium, as the project includes extensive enhancements to the entire venue, including: a state-of-the-art video board/scoreboard that measures more than two times larger than the previous board, new LED field lighting, new locker rooms for both the Timbers and Thorns FC, a new team store, new and refreshed concession stands and concourse amenities on the westside of the stadium and additional ingress/egress gates.
