It was classic Merritt Paulson. As the dust settled from the Portland Timbers' first home preseason game of 2013, a high-octane 3-3 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, the dust was also settling in the race for former Premier League winning defender Mikael Silvestre. Paulson announced the signing of Silvestre ahead of the start of the regular season.
Geoffrey C. Arnold, the beat reporter covering the team for the Oregonian, tweeted that "After San Jose game, Timbers could use Silvestre #RCTID" – to which Paulson, minutes later shot back, saying something to the effect of: One goal came on a bad penalty call, another was a set piece mistake, and the problems can be easily fixed. Paulson wasn't done – seconds later, he sent another tweet, saying something like: And how many goals did the team give up in its first four preseason games? None.
Why can't I quote Paulson on his tweets? He deleted them, soon after they were sent. Paulson, as usual, engaged with someone on Twitter, leaped zealously to the defense of his team, then retracted the record of his statements, only to let their clear message linger in the air. Arnold was right, the Timbers do need Silvestre and he’s a great signing – the French center-back was the main part of the Timbers four consecutive shutouts in Arizona. But you have to admire Paulson's conviction and fire, and you have to believe his blend of moxie and passion make him the perfect owner for the Portland Timbers.
Merritt Paulson is Portland Timbers MLS soccer. The way that came to be is interesting – almost accidental. In May 2007, Paulson wanted to get into sports ownership. Paulson formed Shortstop LLC and looked at acquiring a number of minor league baseball teams. The Portland Beavers, the San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate, were for sale, and Paulson came to an agreement to purchase the team from Abe Alizadeh, the California businessman who owned the team along with the USL Soccer Portland Timbers. Paulson was buying a baseball team. The Timbers were thrown in as an afterthought, if for no reason than because it was convenient to package the two teams together. Paulson was a baseball guy – Timbers fans were concerned soccer would be thrown by the wayside under his ownership.
When Paulson bought the teams, the Timbers were a minor league soccer team in a country where top-flight soccer was barely qualifying as a major sport. There was no great Cascadia rivalry, no mainstream fan support, no money in soccer. Seattle barely knew they had a soccer team and while the Timbers Army, small as it was at the time, was rabid, the team would only draw a few thousand fans for each game. In every sense, it was a minor league operation and Paulson couldn't have been expected to pay much attention.
But what Paulson lacked in soccer savvy, he made up for with his shrewd mind for business. Son of a former US Treasury Secretary, graduate of Harvard Business, Paulson knew a big chance when he saw one. When the Seattle Sounders were promoted to MLS for the 2009 season and immediately drew 36,000 fans and changed the game as far as expectations for an MLS team were concerned, Paulson saw a chance to get in the game. MLS was looking to expand, looking to expand in the Pacific Northwest where soccer fans obviously were, and Portland seemed like an obvious choice. So the young owner threw himself into learning soccer, working the back channels of City Hall, and throwing his own money into a renovation of PGE Park that MLS necessitated to award Portland an MLS team.
It was never easy, but Paulson did eventually clinch a difficult and arduous deal to make PGE Park a soccer stadium and Portland was awarded an MLS team. After trying and failing to find his baseball team a home, Paulson sold the Beavers, losing more money in the process. Paulson's afterthought soccer team was now the centerpiece of his professional life.
In the two years that followed, from Portland being awarded the MLS Timbers in 2009, to the team starting MLS play in 2011, Paulson and the smart team he surrounded himself with executed a brilliant marketing campaign to get the Rose City ready for Major League Soccer. Between the photos of people holding axes, the Timber Joey milkshake, monster billboards, expansive media deals, and word to word excitement about MLS in Portland, there was no one in the city who didn't know the team was opening in April 2011. Paulson also neutralized and worked with the possibly destructive Timbers Army, who made their own positive efforts to draw attention to the team and sport. It was no wonder that the Timbers, in a city bursting with soccer potential, had to cap season-ticket sales for year one at 14,000.
Paulson's business sense and ability to connect with fans, which he does through a colorful and enticing Twitter account, has been great. On the field, however, it’s been more of a struggle.
Merritt Paulson’s unshakeable faith in General Manager Gavin Wilkinson may be one of the most baffling things in all of sports, and it hurts the Timbers on the field. Paulson and Wilkinson handpicked John Spencer who was, at the time, an assistant coach with the Houston Dynamo to be the team’s head coach. Despite constructing a roster devoid of talent at almost half the positions on the field, the Timbers overachieved in their first year on the field – two points short of a playoff spot – and were a revelation off the field, where fan support equaled and often surpassed that of a European or South American top division club.
Why then, was Paulson so quick to pull the trigger on Spencer, firing the fiery Scot less than halfway through the 2012 season? Paulson looked at Spencer for months before hiring him and therefore knew exactly what he was getting, but complained that he was too stubborn and difficult to work with behind closed doors. Surely that’s an error of judgment from an owner that hired him after such a long study?
Paulson was at his worst – or best, as it may be seen, as the Wilkinson Capitulation dragged the Timbers towards the lowest depths of MLS. Paulson stood by his convictions that Wilkinson was and still is the right man to lead the Timbers, and he battled on Twitter with furious fans out for blood.
Paulson never caved to the immense pressure – Wilkinson is still GM today. Yet Paulson has felt like any other fan many times over the last two years, consistently lampooning refereeing performances and refusing to raise season-ticket prices after the disastrous season last year, even though he could and increase revenue.
Paulson’s ownership style is close to perfect – he’s certainly hands on – Paulson has an office at Jeld-Wen, is active and eager in his participation with the team, watches games and plays a very active role in running the club day to day. He is the face of the club, and in a league and increasingly a sports world where owners rule with a passing interest from across states or oceans, Paulson is in the thick of things in Portland.
Yet the Timbers owner isn’t a Jerry Jones or George Steinbrenner figure – he doesn’t make personnel decisions; he gets out of Wilkinson and his coaches’ way on soccer matters, and he doesn’t get involved with players for anything but support.
Paulson is constantly learning as an owner, but his commitment and care are always clear. MLS is coming to be defined by people like Paulson – young, energetic owners who are converts to the sport, and have struck a cord with fans and their city. People like Paulson are MLS’ and soccer’s hope in America – people who are making the sport and it’s premier league in the U.S. new, hip, and fun.
Merritt Paulson, a Portland transplant, a soccer transport, and a rookie owner, perfectly matches the sport and the city he lives and works in. Portland, like Paulson, is new on the big-city scene, young and blazing its’ own, unique trail. Unlike Paul Allen, Paulson connects with Portland, and perhaps that fact and the understanding that stems from it is one of the roots of the Timbers’ enormous commercial success and popularity.
Paulson is the kind of owner other team envy. Portland has him. Paulson is still learning in the owner’s box, and he’ll get better and better over time – meanwhile, we know Paulson won’t let the Timbers slip into oblivion. Paulson, a man who comes from money, isn’t a surprise person to own a sports team – but he is a surprise to become a leading man in US Soccer. He’s the kind of owner most sports fans dream of.
Abe Asher is on Twitter. Follow him at @AbesWorldSports
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