This article is from the 01/28/2003 Eugene Register-Guard

Portland trying to lure Expos
By STEVE MIMS
The Register-Guard

David Kahn and others in Portland want to cut down the commute that many Oregonians have to make in order to see a Major League Baseball game.

"I sense a lot of fans in Eugene and Salem drive through Portland to Seattle," Kahn said. "I'd like to cut three hours out of that, and hope that this would feel like their team, an Oregon team."

That team would be the Montreal Expos, who could be relocated as early as the 2004 season. Portland, along with Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia, is a leading contender to get the Expos.

Kahn, a former sportswriter and general manager of the Indiana Pacers, is leading Portland's effort to get big-league baseball. He is in New York today with Portland Mayor Vera Katz and other officials, meeting with baseball's committee on the future of the Expos.

If it seems like rumors pop up every few years about another professional team coming to Portland, Kahn says this time it is possible.

"One factor is that we have to convince folks that this is for real," Kahn said. "This is very for real. The fact that there is now a timetable to relocate the Expos creates a sense of immediacy we have not had before. Even if we fall short, there are other teams that need stadiums in their market or are not supported as they had hoped. There are other relocation possibilities."

The biggest obstacle in the way for Portland is a stadium, as several baseball owners have said that they want financing in place for a new ballpark before approving a move. So next month, officials from Portland are expected to introduce a bill in the Legislature that would raise $150 million to build a stadium whose price tag would exceed $300 million.

"The time has to be now because the Legislature only meets every other year," Kahn said. "The bill this session must pass for a viable financing plan. If not, I don't think Oregon will get major-league baseball in the near future. It is a real timetable and a compact timetable. People have to realize this is not speculation, it is something tangible and very real."

Just how tangible and real seems to depend on how the bill fares in the Legislature. There are plenty of people lining up on both sides of the battle, which will become an even hotter topic in the coming months. If Portland does get a team, Kahn hopes for statewide support like the Trail Blazers have enjoyed.

"I think baseball, because it is a summer sport and because there are three- and four-game series, has special characteristics that make it more regional based than other sports," Kahn said. "It is not that difficult for folks in Eugene to spend the weekend in Portland watching a series against the Red Sox. Or they can make a day of it, leave at 10 in the morning for a 1 o'clock game and be home at 7 at night."

Eugene Emeralds president and general manager Bob Beban said he would be surprised if baseball arrived in another small market, but that he would welcome a major-league team in Portland.

"I think it would be a positive," said Beban, who has been with the Emeralds for more than two decades. "I think we have two different products. Ours is family-oriented, we have a lot of fun with different things. Theirs is pure baseball."

Beban said minor-league baseball tends to draw different fans than the majors.

"I've always maintained that it is the non-baseball fans that make what we do fun," he said. "It's families who come out for a beautiful evening and for something for their kids to do. At big-league games, those people can get hostile and care more who wins or loses. They all know everyone's batting average."

While Beban does not compete for fans in the Portland market, Oregon athletic director Bill Moos does do that at times. Moos said he would also welcome a major-league team in Portland.

"I think we have made strides in Portland," Moos said. "If you see this as another competitor, I think to some extent that is a concern, but we need to earn our place on the front page up there and when we have done that, it has resulted in good exposure."

The Ducks drew 12,524 to PGE Park in Portland for last year's spring football game. In addition to numerous home sellouts in men's basketball this year, the Ducks have shown their ability to draw fans in Portland, as 20,762 watched Oregon defeat Kansas in December. Oregon's win over Portland State two weeks ago drew 5,443 at the Memorial Coliseum, marking the fourth-highest attendance in PSU history, even though the Blazers were playing Memphis next door in the Rose Garden.

"Certainly the Blazers have not hurt us to any significant degree with our men's basketball program," Moos said. "We have been enjoying sellouts and I don't believe a baseball team would steal that."

Moos said his travels have shown him that there are a lot of baseball fans in the state.

"I think a positive effect of major-league baseball is that it would quench people's thirst for baseball," Moos said. "We cut our baseball program more than two decades ago, but the most-asked question I get is `When will you bring baseball back to Oregon?' That is a bit difficult with Title IX concerns, but I can say there is a tremendous following for baseball."

You can count Beban among those fans.

"The people I talk to don't think it will happen in Portland, but it looks like Mayor Katz will go to bat for it and if she does, you never know what might happen," Beban said. "Who thought Nashville would get NHL hockey? I look at this as a positive. I'll go up there and watch it."

That's just what Kahn and the others want to hear.

"I think this is an opportunity not just for Portland, but for all of Oregon," Kahn said. "I hope everyone is enthused."