Great column and well written, as usual. But here's a contrarian view from 2,400 miles away. When you mention Salt Lake City back here, people talk about Mormons, law and order, a straight-laced, no risk City. When the topic of Portland, Oregon, comes up, one word is prevalent: Antifa. Then comes the perception of a deserted downtown area, boarded up and waiting to collapse, courtesy of... Antifa. True or false, that's the perception. If you were an MLB owner, which would you choose? Portland's got just two chances for major league baseball choose Portland in my humble opinion: "Phil" and "Knight".
Because being anti-fascist is a bad thing? Personally I’m not a fan of Nazis but you do you. I’ve worked with Mormons and would never wish it on anyone. They live in a different, warped reality from the rest of us. Portland is a great city and has better culture and potential. You need to get out more.
wow... Building a baseball stadium without requiring assistance from the general taxpayer is a fascist concept? Well that's a new one. I've lived in Portland for 4 decades, and that kind of thinking has made the City a "No Visit Zone" for most of my liberal fans around the country who call this city "Filthy and Full of Anarchists". This article is about building a baseball stadium and bringing MLB to PDX. ~~~ However, my same very liberal friends did however say they would come visit the city if MLB comes to PDX.
Regardless of any of those opinions, anyone who doesn't like baseball has a simple option;... stay home.... but then again, I hear a few naysayers say they would not like to see many Portland families having fun at a baseball game because they "simply don't like baseball or most sports in general". Dictating how other family have fun (or not have fun) seems more like a fascist idea to me than anything discussed in this great article.
You missed PDX71's main point: "Antifa" means "anti-fascist." Those who fought in World War II, for example, were definitely Antifa. I'm surprised there's so much of a "Pro-fa" contingent around, but maybe I shouldn't be. But to each his/her own.
Nope, we all caught the attempt to hi-jack comments about John’s article about bringing MLB to Portland rather than to SLC;… as a hi-jacked discussion about facism. (btw, we all know what the original meaning of ANTIFA meant.)
As a side-comment to that hi-jack, most of my liberal friends of many ethnic and religious backgrounds from around the world who have moved to SLC would hardly describe SLC as a “facist state”. Such use of inflammatory descriptions gets innocent people harmed or even killed in some cases.
Discussions many of us have had with people who wave their ANTIFA flag have admitted that they are also Anarchist, and that they want to tear down all structures of governance (even in Oregon) to re-establish a self-governed state without police. That attitude ruined Portland in many ways and elevated crime and livability of Portland in the recent decade. (thus the decline in population and economic viability.) I doubt anyone here is “pro-facist”, but there’s a great many people who will not support some of the autonomous groups which try to mis-identify with “ANTIFA” while also participating in violent support of Anarchism.
But back to the great subject of MLB; … bringing more economic prosperity and community pride back to downtown Portland would be helpful to most all socio-economic levels here. Many of us believe that having a MLB team in Portland would likely be a successful contributor to that equation.
Thanks for your in your input Bruce, but many of us caught that attempt to hi-jack the dialogue of this article which is about bringing MLB baseball to Portland to a discussion about facism. (and as a side-note to that hi-jack; my many liberal friends in SLC would argue that the city is far from a fascist state; .. people who throw that term around too loosely get innocent people harmed or even shot, plus in many discussions with people in recent years who proclaim allegiance to ANTIFA: and outright admitted that the are also anarchists: and believe that they need to tear down society and re-build it without any police.
The City of Portland has plenty of opportunity to market itself as a great place for visitors to come and enjoy it for baseball and lots of other things. Let's hope they do so. I visit often from down I-5 in Salem. I love PDX. I think all the naysayers about this city are beginning to sound a bit like a broken record. I do hope MLB is able to put roots down here, I think it would be good for the whole region.
Between Portland and Salt Lake City, the population bases are about the same size. The median household income in the Portland metro area is about 20 percent higher, but SLC has three big things in their favor: 1) they have a viable ownership group; 2) Utah's population is younger, and is more in line with the demographics MLB craves; and 3) in line with the first two, there's a "can do" attitude where the isn't a large contingent prepared to throw process arguments in the way (lawsuits, LUBA actions, etc.) and state /local governments unable to fend them off. There's no patience with obstacles to growth and development in Utah.
They also have the recent success of the NHL team that just completed its first year there to use as evidence that they can put the whole package together and get up and running quickly.
There is a very interesting column in The Athletic (subscription required) about the Miller family in SLC and their investment in local professional sports. I don't think the Millers are currently interested in MLB, but the column is still very interesting about them as local owners of SLC franchises. It certainly points to the value of local ownership.
Yes, I saw the article about how Gail Miller has continued the work of her late husband. After the sale of the Jazz and the dealerships, she and her group have the resources to both acquire a franchise and get a stadium built. And in Utah, they would get plenty of help from both SLC and the State of Utah. Also ... would anyone be surprised if Ryan Smith got involved in that effort?
Go to college. California is gaining population. Red states are utter and complete failures by any objective measure. I’ll fly the flag however I want.
Actually that is incorrect. CA lost a congressional district from the 2020 census and is projected to lose one more and possibly two from the 2030 census. OR is projected to lose the CD seat gained in 2020 census in 2030. Not that this is a political topic but if Portland/Oregon loses out to SLC Nashville etc. it will because of political perceptions of Portland/Oregon. On a side note I would like to see PDX try to acquire the Rays and move them to PDX. We need an AL team for the Mariners rivalry. If PDX lands a team it won’t be hard for me to switch my support from the Mariners which is the team I support
btw, Oregon also lost population in 2022 and 2023. Surveys showed the lack of job opportunities, and fewer fun things to do in Portland were the primary culprits for people leaving. A new MLB baseball teams would certainly help reverse some of those negative trends regarding the Portland economy and the decreasing amount of entertainment in Portland.
so you obviously caught the first sentence which read that “California’s population is nearly back to the population levels the Golden State had reached before the pandemic, though the state is growing more slowly than the country as a whole and other large states in the South, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.
What population growth there was in 2024 was “primarily driven by rising net international migration”, and not from other USA citizens moving to California”
Yes, this town isn’t getting MLB when the other option is Salt Lake City. There’s a reason people are voting w/ their feet and moving from blue states to red ones. Utah is a net growth State and has much more energy than Oregon at this moment in time. Utah schools, BTW, are already chocked full of California kids, and more want to go (escape).
Sorry friend, but there are many doing so and their minds are just fine. Also, something is amiss on your flag. It’s also Good Friday, please respect it better w/o disparaging Christianity? It’s a force for good in our world.
I'm happy and a little surprised at the overwhelming support from the Oregon Senate. Here's hoping the House follows with a decisive bipartisan vote.
Playing the "what if" game can be frustrating and pointless, but man what would Portland look like if the Delta Dome had passed?
In May 1964, Measure 2 failed by only 9,363 votes out of almost 200,000 cast. If passed, Portland would have had a dome stadium by 1968, eight years before Seattle's Kingdome.
Love the enthusiasm, John; keep banging that drum! I'm right there with you and the PDP and all the senators and (hopefully) reps who support this. Any chance we can get Phil Knight and Nike involved? I think MLB would love Nike's dollars and would give us a leg up on SLC.
The VC groups are alive and well in order to pay the $2.2 billion franchise fee, plus the extra costs of operations, salaries, and training facilities. Guys like PK would represent under 9% of such an investment.
Who are the front people for this, who will be willing to put up the big bucks? I've seen names of folks who might contribute a few million each, but where are the whales? The umbrella organization for the team would be organized as an LLC (or an LLP), but even a limited partnership has to have one or more general partners.
Here’s how to gain enthusiastic support for a stadium from Portland’s freak show of a city council: Refer to it as a “safe space for marginalized communities.” (Those communities, of course, being Portland sports fans and sane people.)
Finally a win in pdx. I remember hearing about the delta dome as a child, and all the opposition. Then the NFL went to Seattle and Portlander's were saying "oops!"
I lived in Knoxville TN for around ten years. Right before we moved, the AA minor league team wanted to build a new stadium. They had everything drawn up, land and funding. At the last minute a city councilman torpedoed it as a handful of people in his district were concerned about traffic. Sevior County stepped in, got funding past, buikt a stadium, and took the team out of Knoxville/Knox County. They made millions in profit the very first year.
Over the last couple of years Knoxville finally realized the mistake and are moving the team back downtown. The missed revenue still haunts them.
I'm hoping this stadium bill passing is not to late. Had we got it done 5-6 years ago, we'd be ready. Now we have to hope and pray that SLC doesn't beat us.
Another excellent column. As a former umpire of high school, college and American Legion baseball, I fully support Major League baseball in Oregon. Greatest game ever invented. Much less expensive and easier than going to Seattle several times a year. However, building in downtown PDX is a near fatal error. The stadium should be in Delta Park or somewhere around Wilsonville where the baseball people are and are willing to come, park their car and maybe have dinner and not worry if it will be there after the game. Portland is a European Wannabe and likely won't fully support an American game. I understand the rationale for Portland leaders hoping to draw people to the central city, but unless things change in the next few years, it has (literally) two strikes against it on opening day.
Doug, are you one of the small-thinking people with the pea shooter that John referenced? A stadium on the waterfront would significantly revitalize the area, causing the crime concern to plummet (since your "baseball people" (whatever that means) are concerned about car theft. If the "baseball people" in Wilsonville and Delta Park won't travel downtown for major league baseball, they aren't really baseball people, are they?
People like to point towards the failure of minor league baseball as why Portland is not a baseball town. In the Battered Bastards of Baseball, Bing Russell correctly points out the flaws of minor league baseball. Bing Russell like Harry Glickman knew Portland is a big league market.
Before Harry Glickman died I saw him at the downtown Nordstrom. As he went passed me, I tried to express the joy the Blazers had brought me through my life and thanking him. I got a gruff response but his caregiver said Harry appreciates people thanking him. I sat in Sec 69 Row D in the Coliseum. Press Row was right in front of us. Harry Glickman was a regular sitting in Press Row. When he was upset with the Blazers.... his response was often entertaining.
"I suppose none of us should be surprised that there’s still opposition out there..."
I think there is a LOT of skepticism. Having the owner "pay for the stadium" leaves a gaping hole for who is going to cover all the surrounding changes? Other cities have found out it is the taxpayers that foot the bill for changes in mass transit, streets, sewer and water line extensions and maintenance, fire protection, police staffing and overtime, drawing on public funds for those "extras" that will not be available to spend elsewhere on city services. Roads? It is not just having the team owner pay for widening the street and intersection lights adjacent to the stadium...the changes in road requirements extend far beyond the stadium property.
Out of 31 MLB stadiums, 28 had public subsidies and the other 3 probably had bad accountants.
It’s been 48 years since the Blazers won a title. 5 MLB teams have never won. 1 other MLB exceeds 48. So, 6 out of 30 vs the Blazers 48 years – maybe baseball would bring some hope to PDX?
Portland has had its own share of problems to be sure, but it’s interesting how Salt Lake City seems to get a free pass as an unstoppable city on an upward trajectory with no underlying urban problems or other issues. I drove through there in December once and was surprised at the level of air pollution during the winter. And the Great Salt Lake needs immediate attention from the state of Utah to prevent it from drying up completely. Let’s pause this “Portland sucks” and “Salt Lake City is wonderful” rhetoric for once.
If the Great Salt Lake continues to dry, then the air around Salt Lake City will become much more polluted than it already is, and that will likely affect future growth, livability, and real estate values.
If Portland gets an MLB franchise, job one should be to lead a charge by small and medium market teams to bring NFL, NBA and NHL salary caps to a game that has been perverted by limitless spending. The Dodger's payroll this year is eight to nine times as high as Miami's. The Dodgers are paying Ohtani almost as much as the entire Pittsburgh Pirates payroll. The Pirates stars that won three World Series in the 1960s and 70s would not have stayed with the team back then if baseball was what it has become. Could smaller market teams spend more? Sure. Some. But Pittsburgh--and Portland--will never have the money to compete with Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles etc. Every year some smaller market teams do have outstanding years. Then their stars are plucked by the rich franchises and the smaller teams fade back into mediocrity. NBA, NHL, NFL are all competitive, small markets and big. Baseball is a joke.
I would wholeheartedly vote against any public money being spent for a baseball stadium in Portland or anyplace else and suspect that should such a proposal be put to a citizen/taxpayer vote it would be defeated. If MLB wants a team in Portland MLB or the team owners should pay for the stadium. MLB is a business and when businesses want to expand they purchase land and put up their own buildings, the public doesn't do it for them. The Rams returned to Los Angeles only when a wealthy owner built a stadium for the team. The question of whether or not public funds for an NFL stadium should be allocated was put to the voters of Los Angeles. The overwhelming vote was NO!
This measure in support of building a MLB baseball stadium on the SW Waterfront would be WITHOUT requiring any assistance from the GENERAL taxpayer. 78% of those costs would be privately funded. The balance of the other 22% would only tax the incomes of baseball players who move to Portland to play MLB ball, and once that is paid off, all future taxes on baseball player's incomes would go to city and state. In the meantime, the operations of incomes of the baseball team will also be taxable, so there's that revenue for the city, not including all the tax revenue from concessions, many new surrounding businesses, and thousands of construction workers. City and State officials have all shown that it would be a huge net revenue gain for Portland and Oregon, and a boon to a downtown area which has been largely down on its dauber for nearly a decade. It's time to reverse that trend.
Indeed I have but nothing new there. Millions of people in this country pay little or no taxes because of various government exclusions. That doesn't refute the basic premise here. Think about it. Portland has more pressing problems that need immediate address.
Great story I never knew about. Small thinking is in the rain and lack of sunlight in Nov Dec in Oregon - functional depression has its toll. Lol besides it is hard to get a pro team! Athletics were a slam dunk in Vegas and now we in Vegas are 90 days out from ground breaking of a stadium that has 1/2 it’s financing
Oregon needs another failed pro franchise like it needs more legal fentanyl. The Blazers just confirmed they are not trying to make the playoffs with Billups’ extension, and the Timbers have gone silent since their title almost a decade ago. A failed MLB franchise that could challenge the Mariners for poop hole records is what the clueless sports fans of this great state need, and deserve.
I tell my friends in other states that when it comes to pro sports, Oregon is where those franchises go to die and play the small market card.
And the reason, that I disagree with by the way, you tell friends Oregon is where franchises go to die is because of attitudes and, as Mr Glickman so correctly pointed out, small thinking of people like you.
Yet the Oregon sports fan is clueless? Have you looked in a mirror lately? 🤦🏻
Well said! Other than the fact that they have to identify an ownership with some financial muscle, my only qualm with the proposals I've seen is that it seems that the proposed stadium is too small. If you're going to spend a 10-figure sum, build one that has at least 38K-42K seats (think Oracle Park), and put a retractable roof over it, like the one in Seattle.
Portland's weather for most of the season isn't any worse than in many cities in the Midwest and on the East coast. But we want people to be able to plan trips here and know that the games In April and late September will be played.
I love your positivity. The Blazers need an owner, but there is no reason to write them off. Blazer games and Timber games are well attended and I have a feeling the WNBA team is going to work out great in Portland. Portland needs something to bring Oregonians together that everyone can rally behind because if we don't then we just find stuff to rally against instead.
Great column and well written, as usual. But here's a contrarian view from 2,400 miles away. When you mention Salt Lake City back here, people talk about Mormons, law and order, a straight-laced, no risk City. When the topic of Portland, Oregon, comes up, one word is prevalent: Antifa. Then comes the perception of a deserted downtown area, boarded up and waiting to collapse, courtesy of... Antifa. True or false, that's the perception. If you were an MLB owner, which would you choose? Portland's got just two chances for major league baseball choose Portland in my humble opinion: "Phil" and "Knight".
The perception becomes reality. Portland needs to invest heavily in altering that.
Because being anti-fascist is a bad thing? Personally I’m not a fan of Nazis but you do you. I’ve worked with Mormons and would never wish it on anyone. They live in a different, warped reality from the rest of us. Portland is a great city and has better culture and potential. You need to get out more.
wow... Building a baseball stadium without requiring assistance from the general taxpayer is a fascist concept? Well that's a new one. I've lived in Portland for 4 decades, and that kind of thinking has made the City a "No Visit Zone" for most of my liberal fans around the country who call this city "Filthy and Full of Anarchists". This article is about building a baseball stadium and bringing MLB to PDX. ~~~ However, my same very liberal friends did however say they would come visit the city if MLB comes to PDX.
Regardless of any of those opinions, anyone who doesn't like baseball has a simple option;... stay home.... but then again, I hear a few naysayers say they would not like to see many Portland families having fun at a baseball game because they "simply don't like baseball or most sports in general". Dictating how other family have fun (or not have fun) seems more like a fascist idea to me than anything discussed in this great article.
You missed PDX71's main point: "Antifa" means "anti-fascist." Those who fought in World War II, for example, were definitely Antifa. I'm surprised there's so much of a "Pro-fa" contingent around, but maybe I shouldn't be. But to each his/her own.
Nope, we all caught the attempt to hi-jack comments about John’s article about bringing MLB to Portland rather than to SLC;… as a hi-jacked discussion about facism. (btw, we all know what the original meaning of ANTIFA meant.)
As a side-comment to that hi-jack, most of my liberal friends of many ethnic and religious backgrounds from around the world who have moved to SLC would hardly describe SLC as a “facist state”. Such use of inflammatory descriptions gets innocent people harmed or even killed in some cases.
Discussions many of us have had with people who wave their ANTIFA flag have admitted that they are also Anarchist, and that they want to tear down all structures of governance (even in Oregon) to re-establish a self-governed state without police. That attitude ruined Portland in many ways and elevated crime and livability of Portland in the recent decade. (thus the decline in population and economic viability.) I doubt anyone here is “pro-facist”, but there’s a great many people who will not support some of the autonomous groups which try to mis-identify with “ANTIFA” while also participating in violent support of Anarchism.
But back to the great subject of MLB; … bringing more economic prosperity and community pride back to downtown Portland would be helpful to most all socio-economic levels here. Many of us believe that having a MLB team in Portland would likely be a successful contributor to that equation.
Thanks for your in your input Bruce, but many of us caught that attempt to hi-jack the dialogue of this article which is about bringing MLB baseball to Portland to a discussion about facism. (and as a side-note to that hi-jack; my many liberal friends in SLC would argue that the city is far from a fascist state; .. people who throw that term around too loosely get innocent people harmed or even shot, plus in many discussions with people in recent years who proclaim allegiance to ANTIFA: and outright admitted that the are also anarchists: and believe that they need to tear down society and re-build it without any police.
The City of Portland has plenty of opportunity to market itself as a great place for visitors to come and enjoy it for baseball and lots of other things. Let's hope they do so. I visit often from down I-5 in Salem. I love PDX. I think all the naysayers about this city are beginning to sound a bit like a broken record. I do hope MLB is able to put roots down here, I think it would be good for the whole region.
Between Portland and Salt Lake City, the population bases are about the same size. The median household income in the Portland metro area is about 20 percent higher, but SLC has three big things in their favor: 1) they have a viable ownership group; 2) Utah's population is younger, and is more in line with the demographics MLB craves; and 3) in line with the first two, there's a "can do" attitude where the isn't a large contingent prepared to throw process arguments in the way (lawsuits, LUBA actions, etc.) and state /local governments unable to fend them off. There's no patience with obstacles to growth and development in Utah.
They also have the recent success of the NHL team that just completed its first year there to use as evidence that they can put the whole package together and get up and running quickly.
There is a very interesting column in The Athletic (subscription required) about the Miller family in SLC and their investment in local professional sports. I don't think the Millers are currently interested in MLB, but the column is still very interesting about them as local owners of SLC franchises. It certainly points to the value of local ownership.
Yes, I saw the article about how Gail Miller has continued the work of her late husband. After the sale of the Jazz and the dealerships, she and her group have the resources to both acquire a franchise and get a stadium built. And in Utah, they would get plenty of help from both SLC and the State of Utah. Also ... would anyone be surprised if Ryan Smith got involved in that effort?
“That cause of death,” Glickman said, “was small thinking.”
That's long been the problem in this region. Too many people not only afraid of thinking big, but who also hate the idea of someone else doing so.
(It’d be great if some of you guys could resist the temptation to make this about your personal politics.)
Go to college. California is gaining population. Red states are utter and complete failures by any objective measure. I’ll fly the flag however I want.
Actually that is incorrect. CA lost a congressional district from the 2020 census and is projected to lose one more and possibly two from the 2030 census. OR is projected to lose the CD seat gained in 2020 census in 2030. Not that this is a political topic but if Portland/Oregon loses out to SLC Nashville etc. it will because of political perceptions of Portland/Oregon. On a side note I would like to see PDX try to acquire the Rays and move them to PDX. We need an AL team for the Mariners rivalry. If PDX lands a team it won’t be hard for me to switch my support from the Mariners which is the team I support
Not that I really care, but California has lost population for 3 straight years. https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-population-exodus-housing/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20latest%20population%20estimates%20from,500%2C000%20between%20April%202020%20and%20July%202022.
btw, Oregon also lost population in 2022 and 2023. Surveys showed the lack of job opportunities, and fewer fun things to do in Portland were the primary culprits for people leaving. A new MLB baseball teams would certainly help reverse some of those negative trends regarding the Portland economy and the decreasing amount of entertainment in Portland.
https://www.koin.com/local/oregon-was-one-of-eight-states-to-lose-residents-in-2023-census-bureau-estimates/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/19/californias-sees-large-population-increase-in-2024-nearly-returning-to-pre-pandemic-level/
so you obviously caught the first sentence which read that “California’s population is nearly back to the population levels the Golden State had reached before the pandemic, though the state is growing more slowly than the country as a whole and other large states in the South, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.
What population growth there was in 2024 was “primarily driven by rising net international migration”, and not from other USA citizens moving to California”
Yes, this town isn’t getting MLB when the other option is Salt Lake City. There’s a reason people are voting w/ their feet and moving from blue states to red ones. Utah is a net growth State and has much more energy than Oregon at this moment in time. Utah schools, BTW, are already chocked full of California kids, and more want to go (escape).
🙄 hate to break it to you but nobody in their right mind wants to move to a red state, especially one ruled by a christo-fascist cult
In the 15 years ending in 2024 the top ten fastest growing percentage included:
Idaho, Utah, Texas, Florida, N. Dakota, Arizona, S. Carolina
Sorry friend, but there are many doing so and their minds are just fine. Also, something is amiss on your flag. It’s also Good Friday, please respect it better w/o disparaging Christianity? It’s a force for good in our world.
This is a bit harsh.
And yet he got multiple likes.
I'm happy and a little surprised at the overwhelming support from the Oregon Senate. Here's hoping the House follows with a decisive bipartisan vote.
Playing the "what if" game can be frustrating and pointless, but man what would Portland look like if the Delta Dome had passed?
In May 1964, Measure 2 failed by only 9,363 votes out of almost 200,000 cast. If passed, Portland would have had a dome stadium by 1968, eight years before Seattle's Kingdome.
What if... 🤔
Love the enthusiasm, John; keep banging that drum! I'm right there with you and the PDP and all the senators and (hopefully) reps who support this. Any chance we can get Phil Knight and Nike involved? I think MLB would love Nike's dollars and would give us a leg up on SLC.
Phil Knight is 87 yrs old. Isn't their anyone else?
The VC groups are alive and well in order to pay the $2.2 billion franchise fee, plus the extra costs of operations, salaries, and training facilities. Guys like PK would represent under 9% of such an investment.
Who are the front people for this, who will be willing to put up the big bucks? I've seen names of folks who might contribute a few million each, but where are the whales? The umbrella organization for the team would be organized as an LLC (or an LLP), but even a limited partnership has to have one or more general partners.
Well, if Phil gives his approval, maybe Nike would be involved even if he retires or passes on (hopefully not soon, of course!)
Here’s how to gain enthusiastic support for a stadium from Portland’s freak show of a city council: Refer to it as a “safe space for marginalized communities.” (Those communities, of course, being Portland sports fans and sane people.)
The city council is already on board.
Finally a win in pdx. I remember hearing about the delta dome as a child, and all the opposition. Then the NFL went to Seattle and Portlander's were saying "oops!"
I lived in Knoxville TN for around ten years. Right before we moved, the AA minor league team wanted to build a new stadium. They had everything drawn up, land and funding. At the last minute a city councilman torpedoed it as a handful of people in his district were concerned about traffic. Sevior County stepped in, got funding past, buikt a stadium, and took the team out of Knoxville/Knox County. They made millions in profit the very first year.
Over the last couple of years Knoxville finally realized the mistake and are moving the team back downtown. The missed revenue still haunts them.
I'm hoping this stadium bill passing is not to late. Had we got it done 5-6 years ago, we'd be ready. Now we have to hope and pray that SLC doesn't beat us.
Another excellent column. As a former umpire of high school, college and American Legion baseball, I fully support Major League baseball in Oregon. Greatest game ever invented. Much less expensive and easier than going to Seattle several times a year. However, building in downtown PDX is a near fatal error. The stadium should be in Delta Park or somewhere around Wilsonville where the baseball people are and are willing to come, park their car and maybe have dinner and not worry if it will be there after the game. Portland is a European Wannabe and likely won't fully support an American game. I understand the rationale for Portland leaders hoping to draw people to the central city, but unless things change in the next few years, it has (literally) two strikes against it on opening day.
Doug Olson
Pacific City
Doug, are you one of the small-thinking people with the pea shooter that John referenced? A stadium on the waterfront would significantly revitalize the area, causing the crime concern to plummet (since your "baseball people" (whatever that means) are concerned about car theft. If the "baseball people" in Wilsonville and Delta Park won't travel downtown for major league baseball, they aren't really baseball people, are they?
People like to point towards the failure of minor league baseball as why Portland is not a baseball town. In the Battered Bastards of Baseball, Bing Russell correctly points out the flaws of minor league baseball. Bing Russell like Harry Glickman knew Portland is a big league market.
Before Harry Glickman died I saw him at the downtown Nordstrom. As he went passed me, I tried to express the joy the Blazers had brought me through my life and thanking him. I got a gruff response but his caregiver said Harry appreciates people thanking him. I sat in Sec 69 Row D in the Coliseum. Press Row was right in front of us. Harry Glickman was a regular sitting in Press Row. When he was upset with the Blazers.... his response was often entertaining.
Would love a baseball team in Portland. I would go to 20+ games a year. Make it happen!
"I suppose none of us should be surprised that there’s still opposition out there..."
I think there is a LOT of skepticism. Having the owner "pay for the stadium" leaves a gaping hole for who is going to cover all the surrounding changes? Other cities have found out it is the taxpayers that foot the bill for changes in mass transit, streets, sewer and water line extensions and maintenance, fire protection, police staffing and overtime, drawing on public funds for those "extras" that will not be available to spend elsewhere on city services. Roads? It is not just having the team owner pay for widening the street and intersection lights adjacent to the stadium...the changes in road requirements extend far beyond the stadium property.
Out of 31 MLB stadiums, 28 had public subsidies and the other 3 probably had bad accountants.
It’s been 48 years since the Blazers won a title. 5 MLB teams have never won. 1 other MLB exceeds 48. So, 6 out of 30 vs the Blazers 48 years – maybe baseball would bring some hope to PDX?
Portland has had its own share of problems to be sure, but it’s interesting how Salt Lake City seems to get a free pass as an unstoppable city on an upward trajectory with no underlying urban problems or other issues. I drove through there in December once and was surprised at the level of air pollution during the winter. And the Great Salt Lake needs immediate attention from the state of Utah to prevent it from drying up completely. Let’s pause this “Portland sucks” and “Salt Lake City is wonderful” rhetoric for once.
Except that the will of a city to get the economy moving and quality of life improved through sports is not measured by air pollution particles.
If the Great Salt Lake continues to dry, then the air around Salt Lake City will become much more polluted than it already is, and that will likely affect future growth, livability, and real estate values.
If Portland gets an MLB franchise, job one should be to lead a charge by small and medium market teams to bring NFL, NBA and NHL salary caps to a game that has been perverted by limitless spending. The Dodger's payroll this year is eight to nine times as high as Miami's. The Dodgers are paying Ohtani almost as much as the entire Pittsburgh Pirates payroll. The Pirates stars that won three World Series in the 1960s and 70s would not have stayed with the team back then if baseball was what it has become. Could smaller market teams spend more? Sure. Some. But Pittsburgh--and Portland--will never have the money to compete with Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles etc. Every year some smaller market teams do have outstanding years. Then their stars are plucked by the rich franchises and the smaller teams fade back into mediocrity. NBA, NHL, NFL are all competitive, small markets and big. Baseball is a joke.
I would wholeheartedly vote against any public money being spent for a baseball stadium in Portland or anyplace else and suspect that should such a proposal be put to a citizen/taxpayer vote it would be defeated. If MLB wants a team in Portland MLB or the team owners should pay for the stadium. MLB is a business and when businesses want to expand they purchase land and put up their own buildings, the public doesn't do it for them. The Rams returned to Los Angeles only when a wealthy owner built a stadium for the team. The question of whether or not public funds for an NFL stadium should be allocated was put to the voters of Los Angeles. The overwhelming vote was NO!
This measure in support of building a MLB baseball stadium on the SW Waterfront would be WITHOUT requiring any assistance from the GENERAL taxpayer. 78% of those costs would be privately funded. The balance of the other 22% would only tax the incomes of baseball players who move to Portland to play MLB ball, and once that is paid off, all future taxes on baseball player's incomes would go to city and state. In the meantime, the operations of incomes of the baseball team will also be taxable, so there's that revenue for the city, not including all the tax revenue from concessions, many new surrounding businesses, and thousands of construction workers. City and State officials have all shown that it would be a huge net revenue gain for Portland and Oregon, and a boon to a downtown area which has been largely down on its dauber for nearly a decade. It's time to reverse that trend.
Umm ever hear of tax abatements for businesses? That’s using public money for private business.
Indeed I have but nothing new there. Millions of people in this country pay little or no taxes because of various government exclusions. That doesn't refute the basic premise here. Think about it. Portland has more pressing problems that need immediate address.
Great story I never knew about. Small thinking is in the rain and lack of sunlight in Nov Dec in Oregon - functional depression has its toll. Lol besides it is hard to get a pro team! Athletics were a slam dunk in Vegas and now we in Vegas are 90 days out from ground breaking of a stadium that has 1/2 it’s financing
As a non-resident looking North from Klamath Falls, I don’t think MLB in PDX will ever garner the support it needs
Oregon needs another failed pro franchise like it needs more legal fentanyl. The Blazers just confirmed they are not trying to make the playoffs with Billups’ extension, and the Timbers have gone silent since their title almost a decade ago. A failed MLB franchise that could challenge the Mariners for poop hole records is what the clueless sports fans of this great state need, and deserve.
I tell my friends in other states that when it comes to pro sports, Oregon is where those franchises go to die and play the small market card.
And the reason, that I disagree with by the way, you tell friends Oregon is where franchises go to die is because of attitudes and, as Mr Glickman so correctly pointed out, small thinking of people like you.
Yet the Oregon sports fan is clueless? Have you looked in a mirror lately? 🤦🏻
Well said! Other than the fact that they have to identify an ownership with some financial muscle, my only qualm with the proposals I've seen is that it seems that the proposed stadium is too small. If you're going to spend a 10-figure sum, build one that has at least 38K-42K seats (think Oracle Park), and put a retractable roof over it, like the one in Seattle.
Portland's weather for most of the season isn't any worse than in many cities in the Midwest and on the East coast. But we want people to be able to plan trips here and know that the games In April and late September will be played.
I love your positivity. The Blazers need an owner, but there is no reason to write them off. Blazer games and Timber games are well attended and I have a feeling the WNBA team is going to work out great in Portland. Portland needs something to bring Oregonians together that everyone can rally behind because if we don't then we just find stuff to rally against instead.
Small much?
No, that's Memphis and Birmingham.