Portland Timbers vs Columbus Crew 2016 season opener

Timbers owner Merritt Paulson cheers with fans at Providence Park in Portland before the 2016 MLS season opening game between the Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew on March 6, 2016.

(Thomas Boyd/2016)

The Portland Timbers have "fully vetted" and remain optimistic about a $50 million stadium expansion plan that would add 4,000 seats to Providence Park.

Timbers owner Merritt Paulson told Timbers in 30 that he believes the current plan could be viable and is hopeful that the Timbers can work with the City of Portland to move forward with the proposal.

The project would be 100 percent privately funded by the Timbers.

"We have fully vetted a plan," Paulson said. "We've gone through schematics, detailed budgeting and we've come up with a plan that I think works."

The Timbers, who have 13,000 fans on their season ticket waiting list, have been looking at ways to expand seat capacity for well over a year and started to hone in on the new plan last summer.

Paulson said in October that the plan would add 4,000 new seats to the east side of Providence Park, which sits on SW 18th Ave, and bring stadium capacity at the field to about 25,000. The construction for the project would likely be completed in two phases in back-to-back offseasons.

The $50 million plan would cost more than the $40 million renovation project that the stadium underwent in 2010 before the Timbers joined Major League Soccer.

But despite the large investment, Paulson said it's important for the Timbers to expand stadium capacity at Providence Park to give more fans the opportunity to attend games and keep pace with the rest of MLS.

"I think it's important for our stadium to be viable for the foreseeable future," Paulson said. "We talk about the benefits of being downtown and I think when you look ahead, to really ensure the long-term viability, we do need a bigger stadium and we got to get up around 25,000 seats when you look at the trends in the league. We're one of the smaller stadiums if you look at the newer stadiums that are being built."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg