Since our inception by the original Council of XI in 2010, the 107 Independent Supporters Trust has been the engine behind mostly one supporters group: the Timbers Army. This meant that a message from, for, or about the 107IST was more or less also from, for, or about the Timbers Army. But we’ve grown over the past nine years. In 2013, we celebrated the arrival of NWSL to Portland — and the formation of the Rose City Riveters.

We’ve been working together in recent years to develop strong and independent voices for each of the entities in our organization: the 107IST, the Rose City Riveters, and the Timbers Army. The Riveters have done an excellent job in ensuring their messaging and “voice” is distinct and represents their supporters group. The Timbers Army and 107IST messaging and voice have remained fairly closely coupled, however. It’s time to fix that.

Eventually, we will have three distinct web presences for the two supporter groups (Timbers Army and Rose City Riveters) and for the nonprofit engine that fuels them both (the 107 Independent Supporters Trust), even though all of us in the 107IST work closely together and many members belong to both supporter groups. But it’s worth it at this point to make it clear which group is speaking and which set of readers we’re trying to reach.

As we continue to roll out changes this year, here’s what you’ll see:

• TimbersArmy.org will become the site highlighting news and issues that relate to Timbers, MLS, and Timbers Army.
• RoseCityRiveters.org will continue to be the site for the Portland Thorns’ supporters group, highlighting info for and about Thorns, NWSL, and the Riveters.
• 107ist.org will be the new online address of what you now know as TimbersArmy.org. It will have information from the 107IST about both supporters groups and the organization itself. You’ll want to add this to your bookmarks when it goes live.

As a first step, we’ve created a new blog for the Timbers Army on the current 107ist.org/timbersarmy.org site. Here, we’ll post opinion pieces, articles, and other content that relates specifically to the Timbers Army.

With that, enjoy your first post: an op-ed from member Matt Shields! We’ll have others over the next several days.

RCTID BAONPDX