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Portland baseball bid stranded
The city's drive fizzles, leaving organizers to regroup a year after a bill rallied hopes of winning a major league team
By JOHN HUNT
The Oregonian
Wednesday, August 25, 2004

The Oregon State Capitol is quiet now, the long 2003 legislative session a distant memory.

There's no buzz in Portland's City Hall, either, despite a news conference planned this week to unveil a finished baseball stadium finance plan.

One year ago this week, it was anything but quiet.

Senate Bill 5, the stadium finance bill, dramatically passed the Senate and touched off a raucous celebration among baseball proponents throughout the state. With a projected $150 million accounted for, and a passage in the House and the governor's signature formalities, Portland had taken the lead in the race for the Montreal Expos.

"It doesn't seem like a year ago, nor does it seem as momentous as it did at the time," said Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, who led the bill to its comeback victory in the Senate.

Momentum, if there is such a thing in the relocation of the Expos, has been lost. Major League Baseball is focusing on four areas for the team's possible relocation in 2005: Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Norfolk, Va.

Portland, barring a collapse of those four areas, will wait for another team to threaten relocation. The Oakland A's, Florida Marlins and Minnesota Twins have stadium issues, and their owners could look to Portland for help.

The city's major league future, so bright one year ago, has dimmed. Even the most optimistic and fervent baseball supporters in Salem have resigned themselves to the relocation knothole gang -- on the outside, looking in.

"Well, I guess a better word than optimistic would be 'patient,' " said Rep. Vic Backlund, R-Keizer, when asked about Portland's long-term chances for a team.

Backlund had introduced the bill in its initial form as House Bill 3606. That bill sailed through the House, gained life in the Senate with a maneuver that sprang it from an unfriendly committee and gave it a new name. But it was defeated in a Senate floor vote.

Senate Bill 5 wasn't dead, though. An amended version went up for reconsideration. The lobbying effort, which had been strong all session, intensified. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Mayor Vera Katz sent letters to legislators, assuring them that neither the state nor the city of Portland would be on the hook for the stadium deal.

Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, who had played a large role in defeating a similar bill in 2001, had several opportunities to kill it again, but instead let the process play out. The bill returned to the Senate floor the next day and passed with the minimum 16 votes when two "yes" votes were slipped in under the gavel.

Oregon Baseball Campaign leader David Kahn called Major League Baseball officials immediately after the vote to share the news. There was serious discussion about having the Expos play part of their 2004 schedule at PGE Park. With baseball officials sticking to their deadline of Sept. 1, 2003, to decide the fate of the Expos, Portland was looking good.

"The mayor's going to have to come to the plate," said a jubilant Kulongoski.

That has proved to be a long and frustrating plate appearance.

Industries balk

Negotiations with the hospitality industry have been rocky. The business community hasn't bought into the idea of a stadium district tax projected at more than $50 million.

Even the $150 million piece from the bill has been problematic. The safeguards that prevented the state and the city from backing construction bonds have restricted the projected revenue, which could be as low as $115 million.

"It was kind of sold like, 'Gee, if the Legislature would just do this, everything would kind of fall into place,' " Sen. Rick Metsger, D-Welches, said. "I don't think there's any question that it was oversold."

Metsger also said that many legislators did not want to be scapegoated if the baseball movement failed.

"We certainly did not want to be -- in reality or perception -- the barrier to bringing major league baseball to Portland," Metsger said. "But we were not going to just pass any old thing they threw at us and end up putting taxpayers at risk.

"This is the exact point where I thought we would be -- without a team. But I'm glad the Legislature can't be blamed."

Baseball proponents repeatedly said that the state bill was not only the biggest chunk of the finance plan, but also the biggest hurdle.

"I certainly thought we were the leaders of the pack and the path was downhill from there," Deckert said. "Obviously, that was way too rosy of an outlook."

Deckert admitted that "this isn't where any of us wanted to be," but said he has remained involved in the city's attempts to secure financing, reminding those involved of the efforts made in Salem.

"This process hasn't played out in a way that anybody foresaw," Kahn said. "Statements made at the time, I think, were made in good faith.

"Who knew how this would play out? In fact, who knew, as we sit here today, that nothing would have occurred on the baseball front . . . with anybody?"

What's ahead

Baseball proponents in Portland always had pointed out that this wasn't all about the Expos, that other teams could relocate soon. But they also said that finishing a strong second to the Washington area would be crucial. Fifth place, especially behind Western relocation rival Las Vegas, is not strong.

But Kahn insists that the campaign and the city have reached their goals, that any perceived lack of momentum is no hindrance to Portland getting a major league team.

"Momentum is kind of ethereal," Kahn said. "We had a lot of work to do and we did it."

Allowing himself to lean toward a more positive outlook, Deckert said it could work out for the best to lose out on the Expos, which could be overpriced with 29 major league owners looking to make a profit.

Asked whether he was optimistic that Portland can land a team eventually, Deckert was not so upbeat.

"Not really," he said. "We would have to have strong, strong leadership with a commitment to explain this to citizens and to the folks who are going to have to help pick up the tab on it."

Kulongoski remains optimistic, and he sent a letter to baseball commissioner Bud Selig on Friday.

"I realize quite a bit of time has gone by since the state crossed its first hurdle with the passage of SB5," Kulongoski wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Oregonian. "But my desire to bring baseball to Portland . . . is undiminished."

Metsger, a television sports reporter for 16 years before his political career, said he's all too aware of "the different variations of bringing major league whatever to Oregon" and the barriers involved. It was he and Sen. Avel Gordly, D-Portland, who insisted on safeguards for the state and city governments and that jobs would go to Oregonians.

Metsger remembers angst on the proponents' part last August when lawmakers weren't buying into the bill, but he foresees a day when major league baseball comes.

"Portland is going to continue to grow," Metsger said. "At some point it will make sense mathematically, as far as broadcasting and the other numbers.

"There's a lot more to this than just passing some bill through the Legislature."

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