Major League Soccer has historically allocated 900 tickets for away supporters at MLS Cup games, but worked to increase that number to 1,700 this year due to demand, the league told The Oregonian/OregonLive Tuesday.

According to MLS, it is by far the largest number of tickets that the league has allotted to away supporters at an MLS Cup since the league moved to a format in which the game is played at the home of the finalist with the better regular season record.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reached out to MLS after the Timbers Army, the supporters' group for the Portland Timbers, expressed disappointment at being allocated just 1,300 tickets for the 2018 MLS Cup between the Timbers and Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Those tickets sold out in four minutes.

“Hey @MLS we sold out our 1300 ticket allocation at the cavernous Mercedes Benz stadium in four minutes,” the Timbers Army wrote in a tweet Saturday morning. “Yeah we weren’t kidding when we said we could use a bigger allocation.”

While the Timbers Army was only allocated 1,300 tickets, the league said that an additional 400 tickets were made available to Timbers season ticket holders through an internal lottery process, bringing the total number of seats allocated to Timbers fans up to 1,700. Those additional 400 seats are adjacent to the away supporters' section, Atlanta United spokesman Chris Winkler said.

An additional 350 tickets were allocated to the Timbers for business purposes, according to MLS.

In order to accommodate the increase in tickets for away supporters and to free up an adjacent section in the visitors area, Atlanta United relocated some season ticket holders, Winkler said.

MLS has historically allocated only 900 tickets to away supporters at MLS Cup, regardless of stadium capacity. In 2015, the Timbers Army was officially allotted 900 tickets for the MLS Cup game between the Timbers and Columbus Crew in Columbus. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Timbers supporters still managed to secure tickets for the game, but many of those fans weren’t able to sit in the away supporters' section.

But Mercedes-Benz Stadium seats more than 70,000, which prompted fans to express concern about the number of tickets being allotted to away supporters.

The Timbers Army, along with supporters' groups from Sporting Kansas City, the New York Red Bulls and Atlanta United, released a statement ahead of the final legs of the Western and Eastern Conference Championships last week requesting that the away supporters' group at the MLS Cup be allocated five percent of available tickets, a number that would be in line with FIFA guidelines. Given the capacity at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the away supporters had hoped to be allotted over 3,500 tickets, the statement said.

An MLS spokesman told The Oregonian/OregonLive Tuesday that the league had not discussed changing its policy regarding ticket allotment for away supporters at MLS Cup. That means that it is likely that away supporters will be allocated 900 tickets at future MLS Cups. The decision has to do with rewarding the host team for their performance during the regular season.

Instead of buying tickets through the Timbers Army and sitting in the visiting supporters' section, Timbers fans can still purchase resale tickets for the game. But those tickets are pricey. According to SeatGeek, the average resale prices for MLS Cup tickets as of 1 p.m. PST Friday was $293. SeatGeek expected to see ticket prices continue to increase.

Atlanta United will host the Timbers in the 2018 MLS Cup on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. PST at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg