MLS Commissioner Don Garber was on hand for the groundbreaking of the PGE Park renovation that the Portland Timbers hope will turn it into one of the best soccer environments in the country -- just in time for their inaugural MLS season, which they kick off in 2011 with fellow expansion club Vancouver Whitecaps.

“Hearing the sound of earth moving, it’s music to my ears," said Garber, for whom the ceremony was another step in the success of MLS. The commissioner reminisced about teams playing in football stadiums in 1996. The Timbers will be the 11th MLS team playing in a soccer-specific stadium, just 15 years later.

“We’re literally changing the landscape of professional sports in North America with these projects,” Garber said. “Portland is really at the sweet spot of all that activity.”