Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson doesn’t plan to mimic what he calls the “media and entertainment” business model of franchises in other leagues.
With the NFL, NBA and MLB all playing games that have a number of stoppages, many franchises in those sports have invested in third-party technologies designed to entertain fans during pauses in the action. But, says Paulson, “Soccer is a unique sport. It’s a 90-minute sport. You know that when you go to a game—win, lose, draw—it’s a two-hour [event] from when you show up at the stadium to when you’re in your car. That’s not the same as other sports that drag on and on.