Portland Prepares A Pitch for Baseball
The moribund Montreal Expos will likely be calling another city home in 2004, this after playing 1/4 of this year's home schedule in Puerto Rico. One of the front runners is turning out to be...Portland, OR?
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The faint outlines of a Major League Baseball team are beginning to appear in the Great Northwest. There are sketches of a 40,000-seat stadium, the beginnings of a $350 million financing plan and prospective sites featuring grandstand views of Mount Hood.
In many ways, Portland fits the demographic of other markets -- Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, to name three -- that have leapfrogged Washington in recent years and obtained teams. With a population of 1.95 million, the city is the seventh-fastest growing metropolitan area in the country. The Sports Business Journal this month named Portland the nation's third-most appealing market for a new professional sports franchise -- Washington was eighth -- after Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
For 33 years, one professional team -- the National Basketball Association's Trail Blazers -- has monopolized Portland's sports consciousness. "This is the most underserved market for professional sports in the country," said David Kahn, the former general manager of the NBA's Indiana Pacers who is leading the Portland baseball campaign.
Of course, there are issues that mitigate against Portland. A statewide unemployment rate of 7%, state and local governments that are woefully short of funding and facing draconian cuts, and an increasingly bleak economic climate make for a dark picture. Does it make sense for a city with such serious financial problems to be looking to raise $350-$450 million dollars for a baseball stadium? That's a good question, and one state senator thinks he knows the answer.
"What kind of message does this send: 'We can't invest in these other services but we can invest in Major League Baseball'? Give me a break," said Lenn L. Hannon, a Republican state senator.
Hannon, who almost single-handedly killed a bill last year that would have financed a new stadium in Portland, said in an interview that he is looking forward to repeating the performance during the current legislative session.
"As far as I know I'm standing on the air hose," Hannon said. "No, make that jumping up and down on the air hose."
Baseball proponents say they can build the stadium through a variety of financing methods that will not involve new taxes, and that baseball will enhance the Oregon economy. But they acknowledge the effort is likely to be hampered by skepticism over a failed deal in which the city, after raising $33 million to renovate a downtown stadium for a new minor league franchise, is bailing out the team two years later.
In the interest of self-disclosure, I should mention that I lived in Portland for 15 years before I moved to Texas. It's a beautiful city that has long had Major League aspirations. It would be a great home for Les Expos, but I wonder about the timing. Giving the very serious financial issue facing the state of Oregon and the city of Portland, is this a case of a dreamer's reach exceeding his grasp? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Whatever happens, I think Vladimir Guerrero would looking good playing in the Great Northwest....
