Portland, OR — The Portland Expo Center, a landmark venue that has served the city for a century, is set to undergo a major transformation. As the Expo Center celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, Metro, the regional government agency, is unveiling ambitious plans to refurbish and expand the complex, ensuring it remains a vibrant hub for the next century.

The proposal envisions the Expo Center evolving into a state-of-the-art sports complex. The expansion will include ice rinks, basketball courts, volleyball courts, and spaces designed for mat sports such as wrestling and gymnastics. This transformation is aimed at not only enhancing the Expo Center’s role as a local event venue but also making it a regional destination for sports competitions.

Local residents are enthusiastic about the potential changes. Jamie Sanderson, a longtime Portland resident who frequents the dog park near the Expo Center, expressed her excitement upon learning about the plans. “I think it’s really a good thing, positive thing, to have a sports complex here that kids would come from different teams all over the city,” she said. Sanderson, who has lived in the area for 30 years, noted the decline in local facilities over the years and welcomed the prospect of new investment.

Paul Slyman, general manager of major projects for Metro, emphasized the broader vision for the facility. “We’re working on a project for our council that would reimagine the Expo Center as a sports facility and really draw on our culture, tradition, and pride of sports here in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “The idea is to create indoor sports facilities where people from all over can come and compete—whether it’s volleyball, basketball, mat sports, or maybe even an ice rink.”

Renderings of the updated 54-acre site reveal not just sports venues, but also new features like a hotel, a community park, an event center, and even the space to host large-scale attractions such as Cirque du Soleil performances. These additions are intended to bolster the Expo Center’s ability to serve both locals and visitors from outside the region.

For families with young athletes, the new sports complex could become a cornerstone of regional competition. Karis Stoudamire Phillips, chair of the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission (MERC), highlighted the importance of having such a facility close to home. “As a mom of boys who play sports, I am in a lot of venues across the state. To have something right here in our backyard where we can invite people from all over—Washington, neighboring states, and the entire region—would just be phenomenal,” she said.

Sports tourism is a booming industry, and Portland is currently missing a year-round, multi-sport facility that could attract large-scale competitions. According to Slyman, there is a gap on the West Coast for such venues, and the Expo Center expansion is poised to fill it. “When you look up and down the West Coast, there’s a hole. A gap in the Pacific Northwest where you’d take your kids or any loved one for these kinds of competitions,” he explained. “We think we can create that here.”

The financial impact of the Expo Center’s renovation is expected to be substantial. The $300 million project aims to dramatically increase the center’s visitor numbers, from about 300,000 annually to 1.5 million. Additionally, the expansion will bring 122 new sporting events to Portland every year, generating an estimated 50,000 new hotel room bookings.

While the sports complex will be a major draw, the historical legacy of the Expo Center will also be preserved. Metro’s plans include a reorganization of Hall A, which will honor the importance of Indigenous communities and acknowledge the painful history of forced displacement during World War II and the Vanport Flood of 1948. These efforts ensure that the Expo Center’s deep historical significance is respected amid its transformation.

The expansion of the Portland Expo Center is poised to redefine the city’s sports landscape while celebrating its history and fostering a sense of community. For those who have watched the Expo Center evolve over the decades, the new vision offers hope that this iconic site will continue to serve Portland for many more years to come.