GO STUMPTOWN LAGERS!

Before we move into the economic discussion, I want to provide some history as to why I want the baseball team in Portland to be called the STUMPTOWN LAGERS!

I have always believed that the only way to make baseball viable in Portland is if the team is truly representative of the local economy. We can hope and pray for a corporate provider, but let's be honest, the reason why the Expos moved to Washington D.C. is because Portland does not have enough big name contributors. So, the wisest thing for us, I believe is to find a ton of small contributors, and the name should reflect that.

So, I was thinking, the baseball franchise that moves to Portland needs a name that represents the local economy. Portland was recently announced as the brew capital of the world, and the State of Oregon has the most breweries and most micro-brew consumption of any state in the union. So, the immediate thought was well the team name should be the Ales or Stouts or Porters. I presented the idea to my uncle and he said, no, it should be the Portland Lagers.

That name was good. I thought is had the right twist. I then told my friend in the Geography department at Portland State about this idea, and he said, "that's awesome, the Stumptown Lagers!" And, then I said, "that's it! The STUMPTOWN LAGERS!" The reference to Stumptown is Portland's history and is still something that the state of Oregon can identify with. The mascot can be either a Bigfoot or a Salmon. In fact, I'm sure Billy the Marlin would trade a costume of one fish for another.

So, my vote for a team name is STUMPTOWN LAGERS!

But, the economics of baseball is a big deal. In fact, MLB I have been hearing has been running in the red for some time now. And, there is also a great question about the economic viability of stadium building. I would like to ask everyone to goodle the names of Dennis Coates and Brad R. Humphreys. Both have authored studies critizing stadium building claiming that stadiums do not support a local economy, but in fact take from it. The question for us baseball supporters is how do we make a stadium viable in Portland? Remember, we don't have the big donors, so how do we collect a lot of small donors? How do we design a stadium that contributes to the local economy? Again, please read the studies by the above authors. Where do we go so we don't go where other sports organizations have obviously failed?


Collin

I would agree that the more investors we can get to help build a stadium, the better. However, to set the record straight on a couple of things ...

The reason that the Expos moved to Washington was NOT a lack of contributors in Portland, but rather the fact that DC is a market twice the size of Portland and the nation's capital - MLB wanted to move there from Day One and we all knew it, but wanted to have something in place just in case matters collapsed there. They didn't, so now Portland is the largest market in the U.S. without MLB.

I guess "Portland Lagers" is OK as a name, though I'm not a partaker of alcoholic beverages myself and would probably prefer a name a bit more "kid friendly". It works for the Brewers, however, so whatever ... and you might have a hard time convincing the good people of Milwaukee that Portland is the "brew capital of the world", no matter what statistics might show!

And if you name the team "Stumptown", 99.9% of the rest of the country isn't going to have a clue where the team is located.

Anyway, welcome to the OSC web site. Hang with us - it could be slow going over the next few years, if and until MLB gets ready to expand, but the long-timers here have had a lot of fun and made some great friendships, so we hope you'll be a part of it. And never give up on MLB2PDX!