The aging Portland Expo Center may get a new lease on life, as Metro has gotten support from local leaders to possibly turn the 53-acre facility on North Marine Drive into a sports venue. Metro COO Marissa Madrigal said sports tourism is worth nearly $40 billion in direct spending and would bring jobs and tax revenue as well.

According to the Portland Business Journal, the early plan is for Metro to lay the groundwork to redevelop Expo as a venue for professional, recreational and amateur sports. Another recommendation from the meeting between the Metro Council and the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission was to formally recognize the area’s history as it relates to communities of color.

Madrigal said the site’s history of forced displacement during World War II and the Vanport Floods, as well as the site’s precolonial history and importance to Indigenous peoples could be memorialized. No vote was called on either recommendation.