The Portland Timbers have sold out every game at Providence Park since moving to MLS in 2011, and the Thorns set a single-game National Women's Soccer League attendance record in August 2019 with a sell-out crowd of the same capacity.

[9] In 2019, both clubs ranked among the top ten in attendance among professional soccer teams (men's or women's) in the United States and Canada.

[12][15][18] The city government rejected several proposed renovation plans, including construction of a 57,000-seat domed stadium,[19] and adding a second deck supported by helium-filled balloons.

It also ranks with such classic venues as Wrigley Field and Fenway Park as a stadium that has stood the test of time and that is uniquely part and parcel of the city in which it resides.

[22] In November 1980, Portland voters passed a ballot measure that provided the city (who had owned the stadium since 1966) with a much-needed $9.5 million to improve the foundation, concourse and replace the roof.

[25] The stadium was temporarily expanded for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup with bleachers along the east and south ends to bring soccer capacity from 19,556 to over 28,000.

[30] The renovation met Major League Soccer standards, introduced a new playing surface, which shifted west and north, and added space on the east and south sides, with new seating areas and new amenities.

The newly renovated stadium made its début on April 14, 2011, when Major League Soccer's Timbers defeated the Chicago Fire, 4–2.

Included in the $85 million renovation were the addition of three decks of new seats, two new video boards and a modern edge-to-edge roof, as well as updated LED lighting throughout the park.

The vertically stacked stand resembles the Boca Juniors' stadium La Bombonera and was inspired by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

The NWSL moved its neutral-site 2021 championship match from Portland to Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky, a grass venue, after players publicly complained about the artificial surface and early kickoff time.

The stadium officially opened for Major League Soccer play on April 14, 2011, when the Timbers defeated the Chicago Fire, 4–2, before a sellout crowd of 18,627.

[53] Jeld-Wen Field was the site of the first Timbers playoff home game in their MLS history, defeating arch-rival Seattle 3–2 on November 2, 2013.

In 2018, Portland hosted two rounds of playoffs at Providence Park, rewarding the home support with crucial results as the Timbers defeated Seattle and Sporting Kansas City to advance to the MLS Cup Final.

[56][57][58] MLS writer Charles Boehm described Timbers games at Providence Park "one of North American soccer's greatest spectacles" in 2019.

[60][61] In 1933, pari-mutuel betting was legalized in Oregon, and by May 23 of that year the Multnomah Kennel Club hosted its first greyhound race on the stadium's new track.

In 2001, the Albuquerque Dukes were moved to Portland and renamed the "Beavers" marking the third time the franchise would occupy the park for their home games.

As a baseball venue, the stadium had an unorthodox south-southeast alignment, with home plate in the northwest corner (20th and Morrison) of the property.

On September 7, 1997, the stadium hosted a World Cup soccer qualifying match between the United States men's national team and Costa Rica.

A loud and knowledgeable stadium fully cheering on the USMNT in Portland created an atmosphere that "took years for any other American city to match".

[69] On December 11, 2021, Providence Park hosted the 2021 MLS Cup after the Timbers won the Western Conference Final over Real Salt Lake and are the highest seed remaining.

[52] The Providence Park all-time college football attendance record was set on October 18, 1930 as 35,266 fans watched the Oregon Ducks defeat their rival the Washington Huskies by a score of 7–0.

[62] On 7 different occasions the Oregon–Oregon State football rivalry game was held at Providence Park, with the last time being in 1952, where the Beavers beat the Ducks 22-19.

[72] While coaching at Civic, he led the PSU football program to a 42–24 record over six seasons while averaging 38 points and nearly 500 yards of offense per game.

Coincidentally, Mouse Davis was the offensive coordinator for Portland State at the time, returning to Providence Park under the head coaching of Jerry Glanville.

On May 27, 1991, the stadium received national attention when Vancouver Canadians outfielder Rodney McCray, while attempting to catch a fly ball, crashed through a wooden advertisement behind the warning track in right-center field; a real-life version of an incident in the fictional book and film, The Natural.

[79] While on a four-day tour of the Pacific Northwest, September 2, 1957, Elvis Presley performed in one of the first three outdoor stadium rock concerts in music history.

Presley had held the second ever in Vancouver, BC, Canada just a few days earlier, on September 1, 1957, at Empire Stadium, his first being at the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas, TX, on 11 October 1956.

Those include Facing the Crowd, a series of two bronze sculptures, and You Are Here, an artistic rendition of a 12-foot wide log ring with historical artifacts of Portland's past embedded inside.

[83] The IFC show Portlandia references Providence Park multiple times throughout the series and the lead characters Peter (Fred Armisen) and Nance (Carrie Brownstein) attend a Timbers match in a 2012 episode, bringing along a home-made sign to root for the club.