This article is originally from the Portland Business Journal. The article is a bit old (11/29/01). You can call me a slacker!

November 29, 2001


Portland still has shot at majors, Veeck says
Robert Goldfield

Conventional wisdom has it that contraction of Major League Baseball teams will hurt Portland's chances of attracting a big league team.


Mike Veeck, the baseball promoter who is now managing PGE Park and Portland Beavers parent company Portland Family Entertainment, takes a different view. He said that Major League Baseball's proposal to eliminate two of its 30 teams should help Portland move up to the majors in the long run.


Supporters of Major League ball in Portland periodically point to baseball's most financially troubled teams as logical candidates for relocation. Contraction, however, would seemingly eliminate two of those candidates, and might help stabilize the finances of many remaining teams.

Speaking at The Business Journal's monthly Power Breakfast on Thursday, Veeck said that contraction, plus more revenue-sharing among the remaining teams, is necessary to stabilize the Major Leagues' small-market teams.

Once the remaining teams achieve that stability, Major League Baseball would eventually renew its interest in expansion, he said. At that point, the majors would likely take a look not at cities that lost teams in the past, but at markets that have yet to host a major league franchise, Veeck said.

Among those, Portland and Northern Virginia are the leading candidates, he said.


Contact Robert Goldfield at 503-219-3416 or by email at rgoldfield@bizjournals.com.