Big-league ambition
Portland hopes Mariners-Padres exhibition today is step towards luring majors to town

Don Ruiz; The News Tribune

PORTLAND - The Seattle Mariners-San Diego Padres game today in Portland sold out in about 15 minutes.

What that says about the Rose City as a possible major league city is up for debate.

"We think Portland could be an incredible baseball town," said Lynn Lashbrook, president of the Oregon Baseball Campaign, which is trying to lure a major league team. "We're the best-kept secret in baseball."

Some read it differently.

"Drawing 21,000 for a one-time exhibition game between two major league teams is one thing," said Mark Schuster, general manager of the Portland Beavers Class AAA team. "Averaging 35,000 for 81 games is something completely different."

Portland has ambitions to try. Various groups are working to lure major league baseball, the NHL and, eventually, the NFL.

This is their mantra: Portland is the largest city in the country with only one major sports team. The five-county metro area has 2.3 million people and represents the 22nd-largest television market in the country.

"We're certainly large enough in terms of numbers of corporations, city size, market size, TV ratings in the market," said Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Portland Oregon Sports Authority, a non-profit group that exists to bring sports to the state. "We're big enough to support not only two major sports franchises, but probably even three. Portland stands out like a sore thumb as the largest city by far with only one major pro sports franchise, and we know that will be corrected in a matter of no more than two years."

Most assume the NHL will come first. The Rose Garden, home of the NBA Trail Blazers, stands ready.

So do the fans, according to the Sports Authority, which recently completed an NHL 2 Portland campaign that registered the support of more than 10,000 individuals including nearly 2,000 season ticket deposits ($50 per seat). "The response we received has been absolutely amazing." said Bob Gregg, NHL 2 Portland chair. "It has left no doubt that the NHL will flourish here."

Some have doubts. The Rose Garden opened in 1995, and no NHL team has moved in. Part of the concern is going head-to-head with the Blazers, the city's big league monopoly since 1969.

"I think that Portland's future does hold promise for the major leagues," said Ken Hodge, general manager of the junior hockey Portland Winter Hawks. "I'm not sure the major league sport that should come first is the one that has a season that basically is on the same time frame as the NBA. That is the question: Will they sort of take so much away from the Blazers that it becomes a difficult financial operation, or will the Blazers take so much away from an NHL team that it becomes a difficult financial operation?"

Portland has proven to be a strong market for junior hockey. Now in their 26th season, the Winter Hawks averaged 6,600 fans. They have averaged as high as 8,100. Those are the kinds of numbers that could get the attention of a struggling NHL franchise.

Baseball is a different story.

Beavers attendance in their first season at renovated PGE Park was disappointing, and perhaps counterproductive to the major league efforts. Their average of 6,000 per game was well below their goal of 9,000, and far below the records set by rival major league wannabe Sacramento.

"Sacramento has demonstrated (it) can average 12,000 to 14,000 for each one of their (Class AAA) games," Schuster said. "Portland hasn't demonstrated it. If we were averaging 10,000 or 12,000 or whatever it may be, I'd say absolutely, this market can sustain it. But right now I don't think major league baseball looks seriously at Portland for that fact."

And for at least one other fact: Portland lacks a suitable stadium.

PGE Park, where the Mariners and Padres will play today, is not a major league venue. Despite the renovation, the stadium looks a lot like old Civic Stadium, but with a four-level tower of suites inserted behind home plate.

New seats were installed in the lower bowl, but the old wooden benches still ring the upper bowl beneath a new coat of paint.

The field has an artificial surface - NeXturf, a second-generation version from the makers of AstroTurf - so the stadium can accommodate Portland Timbers A-League soccer and Portland State Vikings football.

With a capacity of 21,000, PGE is bigger than ideal for minor league baseball, but far too small for the major leagues.

Major league backers propose using PGE as an interim home while a new downtown ballpark is built. However, a funding plan for a baseball stadium was voted down last year, leaving supporters to hope that voters will change their minds as big league fever catches on.

"We know that the more exact we create that vision ... the greater the chances that we're going to have to secure both state funding and to have an ownership group assembled," Mahalic said. "We are light years ahead of where we were even a year-and-a-half ago. We know big things are bound to happen."

That optimism is not mirrored by the commissioner of baseball. Bud Selig recently hinted that Washington, D.C., is the No. 1 relocation target. Portland sounded far down his list of priorities.

"To be very candid, I have enough other problems to solve before that," he told The Oregonian newspaper. "So we'll put that aside for a little while, OK?"

The Mariners also seem in no rush to welcome a Northwest neighbor. Where Lashbrook envisions a great Seattle-Portland rivalry, the Mariners see the loss of loyal Oregon fans.

The Mariners have radio affiliates in Portland and neighboring Vancouver, Wash. Fox Sports Net will televise 140 games into the greater Portland market. And those games are watched. Mariners broadcasts drew a 4.3 cable rating in Portland last season - a higher rating than 17 major league teams drew in their home markets. "We've always positioned ourselves as the Northwest team, and obviously that includes that marketplace," said Randy Adamack, Mariners vice president of communications. "We think we've grown to the point now where we have all the fundamentals to be a healthy franchise in major league baseball in the marketplace today. The question always comes up: Is Portland the kind of market that could be a healthy major league marketplace? We just don't know the answer to that question."

Eventually, another league will face the same question.

"We are always interested in cultivating relationships with the NFL because we know that any city that has an NFL team has a successful franchise," Mahalic said

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* Reach staff writer Don Ruiz at 253-597-8808 or don.ruiz@mail.tribnet.com