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Stadium finance plan finished
The stadium campaign group, which hopes to brief the city on its latest numbers by next week, won't reveal specifics
By JOHN HUNT
The Oregonian
Friday, August 06, 2004

Portland's major league baseball stadium finance plan is finished and headed for the City Council for a briefing, possibly next week. But none of the plan -- except for Senate Bill 5, which passed the Legislature last August -- is ratified, nor is it expected to be in the near future.

"We hope to show this is where we stand, this is what we want to accomplish and how we want to accomplish it," said David Kahn, president of the Oregon Stadium Campaign.

Kahn said the OSC plans to brief the City Council informally as soon as next week.

The OSC is assembling a package containing updated financial numbers, along with the latest designs and cost analyses from stadium architecture firm HOK Sport, that it hopes will impress council members and Major League Baseball.

But it's the unfinished business that keeps the plan from representing a step forward for Portland in the plodding race for the Montreal Expos.

Kahn would not reveal specifics of the updated finance plan, but he said it contains a zero team-equity contribution -- meaning a prospective team owner would not have to kick in any money on the front end of the stadium deal.

The main pieces are thought to be much the same as in the plan Portland gave MLB's relocation committee this year. The income taxes secured via Senate Bill 5 would combine with other revenue, such as taxes on tickets, concessions and merchandise, charter seat license fees and a stadium district tax -- a piece that is still hypothetical but counted on for between $50 million and $60 million of the $350 million stadium finance plan.

"Somebody would have to do a thorough job of explaining to me how that would work, and that's going to be an uphill battle," said city Commissioner Randy Leonard. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but it needs to be perfectly clear that the affected businesses would recoup that money."

Leonard said the idea of major league baseball in Portland has been out of sight, out of mind lately for him, and that the focus had shifted from the Expos to a future relocated team.

The likely future home of the Expos figures to be the Washington, D.C., area, but an announcement on that has been delayed again. USA Today reported this week that commissioner Bud Selig no longer plans on reaching a decision by the owners' meetings this month in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the Norfolk Baseball Company announced this week a principal owner for the bid to attract the Expos to Norfolk, Va. Alfred E. Abiouness, part of the ownership group for the Triple A Norfolk Tides, was named managing partner.

Portland has no ownership group, but Major League Baseball has said that is not a factor. Portland also has not selected a stadium site, which would have a great effect on the stadium district tax.

"My support for baseball is site-dependent," Leonard said. "I'm not talking about a particular site, but whatever site they choose, I need to know that the infrastructure is there so people can get in and get out of the stadium."

John Hunt: 503-294-7643; johnhunt@news.oregonian.com