This article is from Yahoo! on 12/20/02

Mayor promises direct role in major league team effort

December 20, 2002

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Some Oregon politicians are hoping the Montreal Expos will relocate to Portland, but others say the state can't afford the team while it's still tussling with a big budget deficit.

``They're looking for corporate welfare from the state of Oregon,'' said state Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland. ``They can seek their welfare from somewhere else.''


Officials in Portland and the Washington, D.C., area were contacted last week as major league baseball considers relocating the Expos. The team is the collective property of league owners, who want to sell it and move to another city by the 2004 season.

The Expos, plagued by poor attendance, are planning to play 22 games in Puerto Rico next season.

Portland Mayor Vera Katz said she would get ``directly involved'' with any effort to bring the team to the city and would revive a stadium financing bill.

Katz said she would work with the Oregon Sports Authority after the holidays to bring the Expos to Portland and persuade the Legislature to approve the financing -- all by Major League Baseball's ``soft'' deadline of late February.

But she emphasized the cost would be a key factor.

``I've said loud and clear we will not sacrifice city services,'' Katz said.

State Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, who spearheaded an effort to bring a team to Oregon in 2001, said he would lead a similar fight when the 2003 Legislature opens Jan. 13.

Deckert said he has met with baseball backers the last few days and the proposal would be the same as the one that fell short in 2001 -- a revenue bond backed by income taxes to be paid by future major leaguers in Portland.

Any use of other taxpayer money is ``not in the cards,'' Deckert added.

Deckert argued the proposal would result in a net gain for the state budget because the jobs created by the stadium construction project would boost income tax revenue in a state that depends heavily on personal and corporate income taxes.

Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority, said the strategy for the local government stadium share is the same as at the state level: floating bonds to pay for upfront costs, then using taxes and fees generated by the stadium and the team to pay the long-term debt.

But Mahalic said the estimated $350 million ballpark proposal by Portland Baseball Group President Steve Kanter was premature. ``That's definitely putting the cart before the horse,'' Mahalic said.

The recruiting effort would stand a better chance if it was backed by a wealthy investor, supporters say, but attempts to attract a big corporate name have failed in the past.