When moving to a new area, the sports enthusiast in each of us has a natural curiosity about what Portland and the Metro area has to offer. The Nelson Team hopes that our clients will find this small sample of what Portland has to offer enticing enough to inspire further investigation. Enjoy!
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are our American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise, based in Portland throughout its existence, entered the league in 1970, and is currently the only major league franchise in Oregon. Entrepreneur and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has owned the team since 1988. The current president is Larry Miller, the general manager is Kevin Pritchard and the head coach is Nate McMillan. The Trail Blazers’ NBDL affiliate is the Idaho Stampede From 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American professional sports. They originally played their home games in the Memorial Coliseum, before moving to the Rose Garden Arena in 1995.
The Rose Quarter in Portland, OR, includes the 20,000-seat Rose Garden, the 12,000-seat Memorial Coliseum, the 6,500-seat Theater of the Clouds, the 40,000-square foot Exhibit Hall and the Rose Quarter Commons. Home to the NBA Portland Trail Blazers, a National Lacrosse League expansion team which will begin playing in the 2006 season, and the WHL Winter Hawks. The Rose Garden is a $262 million multi-purpose arena that opened in the fall of 1995. The Winter Hawks also play in Memorial Coliseum, which opened in 1960 and served as the original home of the Trail Blazers. The Memorial Coliseum is attached to the 40,000-square foot Exhibit Hall and seven meeting rooms. The Commons, Portland’s largest outdoor public plaza, connects the Rose Garden and the Memorial Coliseum and can accommodate up to 5,000 people for outdoor events.
The Portland LumberJax (sometimes referred to as the Jax) is our professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), which started playing in the 2006 season. Announced by the NLL on May 11, 2005, the LumberJax play their home games at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. The team is owned by Angela Batinovich, who at the age of 24 entered the league as the youngest owner of a professional sports franchise.
