Fans of the Portland Timbers rallied at city hall Saturday afternoon, in an effort to persuade the undecided members of city council to join Randy Leonard and Sam Adams in supporting Leonard's effort to bring Major League Soccer to town.

Joey Webber, who works at Kells downtown, and owns a construction firm, revved up his chainsaw a few times while the 200 Timbers Army fans sang songs from the terraces. I asked Webber what's so special about the Timbers, just as all 200 fans began jumping up and down in unison.

"This is," said Webber, gesturing to the crowd. "The supporters are like a family."

“The reason MLS is going to succeed in this town is that we don’t just love the Timbers, we love Portland!” shouted Timbers fan Jeremy Wright, into a megaphone.

“Rose City ‘til I die! Rose City ‘til I die!” sang the 200 Timbers fans gathered there with him, in unison. “I know I am I’m sure I am, Rose City ‘til I die…”

Wright urged the crowd to write, phone or email the two undecided members of city council—Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman, begging them to join Randy Leonard and Sam Adams in supporting MLS. “We’re assuming Amanda Fritz is a no at this point,” Wright told the Mercury, although Fritz insists she is waiting for a report on MLS by Leonard’s task force before deciding which way to vote at a council hearing on the issue, slated for March 11.

Saltzman's chief of staff, Brendan Finn, was standing quietly in the sidelines at the march. "I'm just watching," he said, when asked whether the march might persuade his boss either way.

Leonard’s task force is still looking to plug a $20m to $40m hole in the $85m budget required to renovate PGE Park in NW Portland, and build a new stadium for the Beavers baseball team across the river. Pressure is rising on Timbers and Beavers owner Merritt Paulson to come up with the extra money.

Leonard’s office insists that “negotiations are still ongoing” with Paulson over the size of the check he will write for the project. Paulson has hired former mayor, Vera Katz, as a consultant to shepherd the deal through to completion, and also announced at a meeting of the task force last Tuesday, February 24, that he will personally underwrite the cost of the city’s bonds if the project fails.

“We’re structuring this deal so that there’s no risk to the city’s general fund,” says Paulson. “This deal won’t affect the city’s basic services.”

I spoke with Wright and podcaster Bruce Eaton, who presents the 107report, a Timbers podcast. They were both very optimistic about the deal going through. "Toronto used to have a crowd of 2000 at its games," said Wrright. They got MLS in 2006, and now they have a regular crowd of 22,000." Similarly, Seattle used to have 2500 fans at its regular games, according to Wright. "But now, they've pre-sold 25,000 season tickets, since becoming an MLS team," said Eaton.

Both those teams are yet to respond to inquiries about the veracity of those numbers. It should also be noted that only three MLS teams are currently making money. "Portland will be number four," says Wright.

The skeptics continue to be skeptical, of course: Blogger Jack Bogdanski says that each of the fans at the rally would have to pay $425,000 towards the deal to make it pencil out. The Oregonian ran an editorial this morning questioning the pencils, too.

From my part, I've noticed that almost all those calling supporting the deal have something to gain from it. Either Randy Leonard, who gets to take credit, or Merritt Paulson, who stands to make some money and can basically afford to lose billions, or Vera Katz, who's being paid to shepherd the deal through, or Timbers fans, who seem to be exhibiting the kind of blind faith in their team that I grew up with in England.

I'm excited at the opportunity to boost Portland's reputation on the world stage. And I love soccer as much as the next man. Go Bees! But it's going to take more skin in the game from Paulson, and some firmer numbers—perhaps a solid economic impact analysis—and a few independent, non Timbers' army folks to come out in support of the idea, before I'm going to be won over.