Oregon Public Broadcasting

Major League Soccer officials have announced a new team for the Pacific Northwest -- in Vancouver, B.C.

Portland city staffers say that Major League Soccer is planning a similar announcement for Friday, in Portland. But MLS president, Mark Abbott, says the league hasn’t decided what city will get the second expansion team.

Mark Abbott: “We haven’t confirmed when we’re going to do an announcement, or in what market we’re going to do that yet. But I do anticipate that we’ll be making an announcement in the not-too-distant future. So I think there should be some news on that fairly soon.” 

Abbott spoke from the Seattle airport, where he’d just arrived to see the Seattle Sounders’ first home game as an MLS team.

If Portland gets an MLS franchise, then three of the league’s 18 teams would be in the Northwest, starting in 2011.

St. Louis and Ottawa, Canada, are the other two cities still vying for the available franchise. Several other cities dropped out of the running due to financial or ownership problems.