Portland mentioned again as possible MLB town (Eugene, Bend: spring break, credit card)

[S550]

Originally Posted by take57

Interesting list, of which there's only two or three serious players.

Scratch Allen.
Paulson won't do anything unless it's publically funded.
Boyle so much as admits there's not enough support.
If you want a ballpark architect you'd be better off calling HOK in St. Louis or HKS in Dallas.
I wouldn't consider anyone in the Diamond Project proper a power player. Having a Rolodex is different than a checkbook.
The rest are pols of one flavor or another.

At least the WW piece somewhat confirms the pool temperature is tepid. Are those spring flowers still in bloom?

It’s been repeated many times the Portland Diamond Project has already said they have OUTSIDE owners ready and backing them. They will be announced I’m sure once the site is secured. And this city or whoever cannot complain when NO public money or tax is being asked

[take57]

Originally Posted by S550

It’s been repeated many times the Portland Diamond Project has already said they have OUTSIDE owners ready and backing them. They will be announced I’m sure once the site is secured. And this city or whoever cannot complain when NO public money or tax is being asked

Mystery buyers, mystery financing. Sounds solid.

[S550]

Originally Posted by take57

Mystery buyers, mystery financing. Sounds solid.

It’ll make sense when the land is obtained

[calisoccer99]

if it happens it should be a smaller stadium since MLB popularity is on the decline

[S550]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybr.../#2729074dd61a

Well this just happened

Great location to start from blank with

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by calisoccer99

if it happens it should be a smaller stadium since MLB popularity is on the decline

Not really, no. There is plenty of interest in MLB, whether there are enough fans in Portland to support the team, who is to say. I would hope so, support for the Blazers has always been fantastic despite them being a perpetually mediocre first-round playoff exit. I wonder how that's going to affect the landscape, though, I mean if the MLB team ever was actually good, I feel like people will bail on the Blazers. The Blazers benefit by being the only show in town. I know once I move from Portland, I'm hopeful my new city gets an NBA team eventually so I can switch allegiances. I'm 36 in a few weeks, it's not acceptable for a team not to have won a single championship in my lifetime.

At a certain point, you start to realize it's just not going to happen because nobody who has money and plays basketball would ever want to live in Portland. It's the end of the earth when it comes to pro sports players. Why would they? They finish a game at 10:30, every restaurant is already closed. There's nothing to do here, it's not whatsoever ethnically diverse, so you're sitting there hoping to get traded to the lowly Knicks because at least NYC is exciting, or South Beach, or Los Angeles, or Golden State, or almost anywhere else that has some type of excitement for young people with money. That is not Portland. I worry the MLB team is going to face exactly the same problems retaining talent. The Mariners certainly have. People forget that team even exists, and who can blame them? They're one of the most miserable franchises in sports history. They've been around for 40 years and have made the playoffs just FOUR times! That is absolutely horrible. And they've never even been to a World Series. They're now in another rebuild. Will the Mariners make a championship series in their first 50 years? Seems doubtful. Took the Golden Knights one year to do what the Mariners couldn't manage in four decades. I think we could steal Mariners fans honestly if Portland gets an MLB team.

[Nell Plotts]

Basically, this city cannot afford an MLB stadium and if one is built with private $ the franchize will not be self-supporting.

The Hillsboro Hopps meet our professional baseball needs.

[SyraBrian]

Major League Baseball employs analysts who take a whole bunch of data and use it to figure out what markets are next in line for baseball.

They think Portland's ripe for the pickings!

[S550]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Basically, this city cannot afford an MLB stadium and if one is built with private $ the franchize will not be self-supporting.

The Hillsboro Hopps meet our professional baseball needs.

Please keep up. This city isn’t paying for the stadium. It’s privatley financed. So they won’t use my money or your money. As far as you saying it can’t be self supporting. Do you know they only not bought terminal 2 but they also bought terminal 1 in which they will lease off parcels for bars and entertainment while building 8000 housing units which will funnel god knows how much revenue for them.

Again keep up. This is a sweet heart deal the city just sits back and enjoys

[PNW-type-gal]

The stadium backers are counting on someone else paying the infrastructure costs, since their preferred location - which they don't own yet - isn't on transit. So they DO need some public funding and they are probably going to ask for tax breaks and incentive payments as part of the package.

I think the Portland area might be more amenable to pay for a transit package to pay for a stadium but the tax breaks and incentives might sour the deal.

Also, gotta love the artist's conception of the stadium which shows a wide open, uncovered space. The stadium has got to be covered, like the Mariner's stadium. Baseball season is March to October.

Apparently the state already voted to approve $150 million in state-backed bonds and the project is trying to float an idea of an income tax on players and managers to pay the bonds back. That'll certainly hinder recruitment efforts. "hey, come up here and be doubly taxed on your income!"

Looks like one of the biggest issues would be the rezone from industrial to mixed use - Portland would have to replace the industrial land.

The other issue will be mitigation - I did a lot of environmental assessment and yank-a-tank work in that industrial area, much of which was built with landfill from the surrounding hilltops being planed down to cover up marsh and Guild's Lake after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial. That is not particularly stable ground and there are a lot of underground waste pits and tanks up there.