jaynes claims there is a movement of sorts afoot to bring the a's ownership to the post office location and sell them on pdx and that prospective [ballpark] site...jaynes claims the support for the a's in pdx would be terrific [he's right] but the lack of corporations will doom us [unfortunately he's probably right about that too]....as jaynes says, it's a shame because this would've worked wonderfully in our mlb-starved rose city 10ish years ago but with the economy the way it is/lack of corporations in pdx, well, you know...

Do you have a link for this info? Are they really bringing up brass from the A's to show them the site? What if we got MLS in 2011 and found out we could be getting the A's also! that would be flippin awesome! I could live with the Portland A's.

If there is any validity to this (I couldn't find anything on the Portland Trib web site; maybe Dwight said it on the air today), that would be exciting news. The PO site and the PPS site are both good locations. I was talking at the Triple A All-Star Fan Fest with someone associated with the P-Beavers who said they thought the ideal spot was the Blanchard site, but that it would take five years to negotiate the purchase of that property, and the Beavs don't have five years. THe PO site is a sound alternative, but it would take building a new post office (out near the airport is where I think they want to go) to make that work. Lots of logistics and politcial leadership problems to work through, but I'm sure we all believe the A's would be better off here than trying to stay in the Bay Area, especially if MLB won't allow them to move to San Jose and the Giants continue to be a better, more attractive team than the A's.

Hope this is the start of something big. It would sure help pick up things around the OSC website, wouldn't it?

http://www.dwightjaynes.com/ma...baseball-in-portland

quote:

There’s a move behind the scenes going on right now to fly the owner of the Oakland A’s up here to see the site of the post office near Union Station. If he likes it, people will push our Congressmen to get that post office out of there (a move scheduled to be made at some point in the future, anyway) and make way for a new ballpark. Using a combination of the $150 million from the state funding bill and money promised by a tribal casino of $350 million, put that ballpark on the fast track and get the A’s up here.

Snowball in Hades.

And this post was timed right after the city council vote on MLS. Dwight hates soccer and he's just dreaming, blog-style.

On a side note, we ran into the band at the Sounders game as we were trying to get out of Safeco (via the Qwest parking lot) after the Indians crushed the Mariners today (YES!). Wow, they really have something special going on up there (the Sounders - not the Mariners, sorry to say), and it will be very, very cool down here starting in 2011.

I agree with Cactus. At this point, even we optimists have to be able to read the writing on the wall. All the factors necessary for a successful MLB franchise are currently missing in Portland; political will and common sense being at the top of the list.

What I have been noticing on blogs and forums lately is a growing frustration at much of what Psuedo Mayor Sam Adams is shoveling.

Eventually we have to ask ourselves what's more important, job creation and government focused on the common good or hyper left-wingism which suggests our problems will go away if we increase the percentage of portlanders who grow cucumbers on the rooftops of their soon to be reposessed houses.

I know i'm largely preaching to the choir, but my word, when will this madness end?

If there's a move afloat to seriously investigate Portland as a new home for the A's lets embrace it! Four years ago corporate support wasn't an issue and it's not now. Portlanders tend to always look at the situation from a cloudy perspective instead of the great opportunity that might present itself. I hope the governor doesn't stand in the way if the stadium can be funded without tax payer expense (floating casino). Lets move this forward!

The key phrase there is "seriously investigate." Those of us who've been on this forum for the better part of a decade have had our hopes dashed so many times that optimism becomes synonymous with blissful ignorance. The issue isn't whether I want MLB or think it can work. (I can and do). The issue is whether or not the folks at City Hall feel the same way. For years now, there has been a resounding answer to that question: "NO"

Here are the reason why I have a hard time taking this seriously:

1. It is an unsourced rumor from a guy who hates soccer the day after the soccer funding proposal was approved.

2. The primary point of the blog post was to point out that we have no shot at getting MLB right now due to lack of corporate support (which is worse now than it was during the Expos derby).

3. That site is targeted for mixed use redevelopment the instant the economy improves.

4. If any casino dollars could have been tapped (floating, PDX city limits, or otherwise), they would have already been tapped in order to address any of the myriad other budget crises in this state (city, county, state, schools, public pensions, roads, transit, bridge repairs, Columbia River Crossing, etc. etc. etc...).

5. We just witnessed that it nearly took an act of God to get the MLS funding approved, and any MLB proposal other than Paul Allen buying the team and paying for all construction costs is going to be about 5000% more difficult than the MLS proposal.

So yeah... we all want to be optimists in here but it's really, really, really hard to take this seriously.

One other thing - I'm excited about MLS. It's not MLB but it's something for this sports-starved town to get behind when the Blazers are off for the summer. And this town will get excited for MLS. 20k+/game rocking PGE will be sweeeeeet.

One would hope. But with the economy if the economy remains in the toilet, we will have trouble filling the place. If the economy turns around, 20,000 seats won't be nearly enough.

I'm planning on getting season tickets; not because I love soccer, but because like many of you, I have waited too long to have another major league franchise to follow. Long term, I believe the Timbers will be a smashing success.

OK, I found it - PBJ ("Around Town" section, 7/24/09 edition, no link, sorry - Please subscribe to the Portland Business Journal, great paper, and worth every penny!)

quote:

Leaders take second swing at Major League Baseball

Beaverton officials aren't the only ones in the Portland area trying to lure a baseball team to town.

Brian Parrott, a promoter who helped bring the Davis Cup championship to Portland in 2006, has started lining up business support for building a Major League Baseball stadium at the site of the Pearl District post office.

Parrott believes the Oakland Athletics are a prime candidate to move and that the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde could, as they did earlier this decade, offer construction money for a new stadium in exchange for the rights to build an off-site casino near downtown.

Several heavyweights in the business community are at least partially onboard with Parrott's cause, including Paulson Capital Corp. Chairman Chet Paulson (no relation to Portland Beaver owner Merritt Paulson,), former Nike Inc. and current Nonbox executive Ian Hamilton and developer Homer Williams.

Business leaders say the post office, near the west end of the Broadway Bridge, could electrify the Pearl District and spur development in Old Town.

"It's a great location, and if it's a way to get the post office out of there, it would be great for everybody," said Williams, whose projects dominate the Pearl and South Waterfront ares.

A few huge roadblocks remain.

Justin Martin, an attorney for the tribe, said that its support for Major League Baseball depends on whether officials would permit an off-reservation casino near the city. State leaders have opposed the idea.

The US Postal Service also hasn't finalized where it could build a new distribution site. it could take six years to move the post office and clear the existing site for a stadium.

Backers also need to find an available team. A deal to move the Athletics to nearby Fremont, Calif., recently fell apart. But the A's will probably have a new home, either in California or elsewhere, before Portland has a stadium that could host them.

The only real problem I see is the political will (or rather the lack thereof) of the current crop of elected officials we have in Portland. They are plagued by a short-sighted vision of what Portland can be and are trying so hard not to offend ANYBODY that they wind up antagonizing and frustrating EVERYBODY! If they can't even get together and find the best and most obvious site for a new minor league park for the Beavers which can eventually be expanded for major league baseball (and we all know that spot is the Blanchard site), then they are never going to find their way around to visualizing Portland as a major league city and laying out a smooth, comprehensive path for bringing MLB in Portland to fruition. The other issues are not insurmountable - the lack of vision and leadership may be the killer.

How sad for baseball fans ...

I see many other problems besides political will, but political will is definitely the deal breaker. Always has been. Without Paul Allen and Merritt Paulson (who fronted/are fronting the lion's share of the stadium costs), we would have zero professional sports in Portland.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I have never been fond of the Blanchard site and I surely don't think it surpasses the USPS site. USPS is right next to downtown and is within the city grid. Blanchard is neither. It is choked off by a much too busy NE Broadway, the train trax, and interstate 5. If the park is buil there, (cost effective though it may be) it will function more like Commisky Park and less like Wrigley Field.

I doubt much development would occur because there's really not much room for it. Light industrial to the North, Interstate/river to the West, I-5 to the East and the unnecesarily suburbanized Rose Quarter to the South. USPS is a vastly superior site. Utterly irrelevant of course with Larry, Curly and Moe in charge at City Hall.

Just curious, do any of you live within the city limits, and if so, how do you put up with it?

Too many others have designs on the USPS site. The "afraid to offend everyone" argument is nearly always a smokescreen for other petty little turf wars.

The real lack of political will is coming up with money to placate the school district. I may go along with CL in advocating a land trade, but I'm beginning to guess that the school district doesn't seem to be in the market for absorbing the boundaries of areas still up for development, therefore needing more land for schools. I think Portland, and more specifically PPS, is filled out. Development now is a matter of reclamation... and the school district doesn't really benefit from that.

Sorry, been out of town for awhile, so didn't see the plea for a link--here's the piece from Jaynes' blog in case you need/want it [at dwightjaynes.com]. I certainly don't think the A's are somehow PDX-bound, or that they'll even take a cursory look at the Rose City, but if nothing else, it's a fun/surprising read from Jaynes...



Yes, I’ve been out there in the forefront of this movement for years. Way before the Baseball Group, before the bill in Salem, before David Kahn. All of that. Nobody wants it more than me.

But folks, get a grip. Yes, the fan support for a team here would be wonderful. Everyone in sports would be shocked at how well attended these games would be. I still believe that. We’d have big crowds and nice local TV ratings.

There’s a move behind the scenes going on right now to fly the owner of the Oakland A’s up here to see the site of the post office near Union Station. If he likes it, people will push our Congressmen to get that post office out of there (a move scheduled to be made at some point in the future, anyway) and make way for a new ballpark. Using a combination of the $150 million from the state funding bill and money promised by a tribal casino of $350 million, put that ballpark on the fast track and get the A’s up here.

Yeah, I know the governor has always said he wouldn’t allow that tribal money to be used because the tradeout would be a casino somewhere nearby. But for some reason supporters believe the plan, which includes a floating casino, might get OK’d because of the hard economic times.

Nobody would love that more than me. I could fall in love with the entire concept. But I won’t. Because it’s just not realistic. I think the owner of the A’s will fall in love with the site and with Portland. But as soon as he takes a hard look at the economics up here, he’ll sober up in a hurry.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s just no corporate support in Portland. The Blazers sold out every game last season and still lost tons of money. You can’t get sponsorship money or sell signage and really — who’s going to buy all those luxury suites? Nobody. All the street-corner food carts in the world aren’t going to be able to support the thing.

It’s a shame. This is the right place for the A’s. The post office location is the right place for the ballpark. But Portland — right now — is no place for a franchise needing corporate support. Do the math. Check it out.

It really pains me to say it, but it’s just not going to work at this time.