Ongoing Portland Stadium Thread

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

I don't know that Toyota Park was harder to get done than Crew Stadium. And Houston's seems like it's been harder. DC might be the worst, but we forget that for sheer length and frustration, NY might be the worst.

It's my recollection that Toyota Park wasn't that contrived. The Fire put out an RFP. A few cities responded. Bridgeview offered to do it, then to pay for the whole thing. Now Bridgeview is in dire straits and supposedly interested in selling the stadium to the team.

And even BMO wasn't without its detractors. Including the brilliant Etobicoke councillor Rob Ford who said: “This is a sucker stadium, not a soccer stadium. We are going to lose our shirts.”

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Well everything between Crew Stadium and Toyota Park on my list was a bit of a toss-up. Everything went fairly well, no major problems, but it wasn't pat like DSG Park or (I thought) BMO Field.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Yeah, but there was at least a fear that RSL might move if it didn't get a deal done. And DC still has that possibility. In those cases, it would be losing teams you had. In Portland's case, it would be like losing a team you never had, except they'd still have the team (likely), just not in MLS.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Here is a timeline I created on May 21st in the other thread that got moved to the Portland expansion forum.

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Timeline:

October 2008: Commissioner Randy Leonard travels to MLS headquarters in New York with Merritt Paulson to discuss a potential MLS bid. The plan centers around placing a minor league baseball stadium for the Beavers in the Lents neighborhood, thus leaving PGE Park to be renovated for soccer and college football.

January: Mayor Sam Adams is caught lying about his affair with an intern, who may have been under the age of consent at the time. Oregon Attorney General begins an investigation. Commissioner Randy Leonard makes statements against Adams, but then recants and supports Adams.

February: Leonard and Merritt Paulson continue to hash out the details of the stadiums plans. Leonard claims that Paulson stormed out of a meeting. The new deal moves the site of the baseball stadium from Lents to the Rose Quarter, requiring the demolition of Memorial Coliseum. The Stadium and Spectator Fund will kick in some of the money through tax increases on concessions at local sporting events, including Blazer games.

March 3rd: 18-member panel unanimously recommends approval of the stadium deals with contingencies.

March 11th: Portland City Council votes 3-2 in favor of stadium deals. Commissioner Dan Saltzman is the swing vote, but his vote comes at the cost of creating the $15 million URD in the neighborhood surrounding PGE Park.

March 20th: MLS announces that it intends to expand to Portland in 2011.

April: Financial issues surrounding the $15 million funding gap created by the lack of the PGE Park URD, the $12 million funding gap created by the lack of state funding, and the likely difficulty in selling and paying back zero-coupon bonds puts the stadium deals in danger. Portland citizens, including architects, veterans, and green-building advocates, come out against the demolition of Memorial Coliseum which is to be the site of the Beavers new minor league baseball stadium. Voting on the pre-development agreement, initially scheduled for April 15th, is delayed multiple times in order to amass enough votes on the city council. Mayor Sam Adams comes under increasing fire from the local media to resign due to new revelations of more lying and coverups in the affair scandal, as well as a loss of confidence in the way he has handled the stadium deals.

May 6th: Memorial Coliseum is officially taken off the table as a potential site for the baseball stadium, and Lents becomes the focus. Paulson removes his private contribution of $12.5 million from the deal.

May 13th: Randy Leonard and Merritt Paulson go before the Lents Neighborhood Association to reveal the details of the their new plan. This plan calls for using $42 million of the Lents URD and reducing the budget for affordable housing and business development to $0. The affordable housing allocation would be re-allocated to other URDs in the city.

May: As the new baseball stadium will be built on park land, Portland Parks and Recreation requires that park land be replaced. They claim that, depending on the stadium amenities, the costs could be $13 million to $29 million, while Leonard and Paulson claim it will only cost $2 million. Paulson allegedly storms out of another meeting with Leonard. Rumors abound that the Beavers could end up in Hillsboro or Vancouver if the Lents deal doesn't work out. Funding for the PGE Park remodel is still up in the air as the PGE Park URD still doesn't exist, and the state is unlikely to contribute any money.

Recently: Portland Parks and Recreation board officially opposes the Lents stadium deal. The Lents neighborhood held a meeting tonight to discuss the issue, so it will be interesting to hear what was said. Randy Leonard says that if the baseball stadium is not placed at Lents, then the whole deal including the PGE Park renovations for soccer is off.

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Here is the updated addendum:

June: The details of the new plan are revealed. $42 million still must come from the Lents URA. There is no longer a shortfall of funding, and the bonds are less risky. A neighborhood opposition group, Friends of Lents Park, emerges to oppose the deal. 6 members of the 15-member Lents URAC are on record opposing the deal. Don Garber sends a letter to Dan Saltzman explaining that PGE Park needs a permanent eastside grandstand in PGE Park because sideline seating is more lucrative and looks good on TV. Dan Saltzman releases a letter of his own supporting the Lents baseball deal, but with contingencies such as less parking, no offices on park land, mitigating the loss of trees, and improving the existing playing fields at the park. He also says he will not support the deal if the Lents URAC votes it down.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

A lot of Portlanders are really ticked off about the Paulsons being involved with the stadium deals. That is certainly a factor. There might not be as much opposition otherwise.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Henry Paulson owns 20% of the Timbers, and he gave his son $50 million for the MLS bid. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aiY0Dfcik.8s

So it's not like Portlanders are mistaking the son for the father. It's a family deal. The father is busy handling more pressing issues at the moment. http://www.reuters.com/article/gc06/idUSTRE55A3I820090611

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Plus it's Portland ... a city where well-off white suburban college kids run around in black masks claiming to be anarchists and get taken seriously as a political force.

Never underestimate the ability of Portlandians to muck this up.

Edit: And I say this not as a Sounders guy looking to start trouble, but as a guy who grew up in suburban Portland and who has been a staunch supporter of MLS to Portland. It's just a "different" town. And the people there are proud of it.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

To be fair, it is because their parents are a political force. Heck, probably are politicians.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

They're "Portlandians?" Not "Portlanders?"

I'm always intrigued by what citizens of a particular city are called and wonder as to the etymology. While you'd think those from Toronto would be "Torontoans," no, they're "Torontonians." And those from Manchester are "Mancunians" (never got that one).

But I'm from Tampa, so let's not go there.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Tampons?

I blame my bad english

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

And why not? Virtually his entire fortune is built on direct infusions of cash from daddy. It's not like junior NBA executives' salaries can cover the cost of a PCL baseball team (let alone an MLS team). It's one thing to hold a father against (or for) a son when the son is not so wrapped up in his father's fortunes as your boy.

You really want to have your cake and eat it, too, with the Paulsons' involvement with your team.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

it looks to me like folks in portland are just a tiny bit self-involved. this is taking forever and there's a bunch of people (appointed, which means they don't even have to care about anybody else) who seem capable of nit-picking forever.
i agree with garber and mls that sharing with a baseball team is a no-go.
either they get their act together, or i think a pro soccer league can do without portland.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Yes, all the way back to October of last year! That's insane!

Sincerely,

Everyone in New York and DC

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

The reason it is taking so long is that there is enough opposition that the city council has been delaying key votes.

Back when Memorial Coliseum was under consideration to be demolished for the new baseball stadium, there was going to be a vote on April 15th to settle the whole financing package for both the baseball stadium and the PGE Park renovations. That vote was delayed until finally in early May, the mayor just took Memorial Coliseum off the table altogether.

The same thing is happening right now. The current deal hinges on the Lents URAC voting to spend $42 million of their URD money on the baseball stadium. There are 6 members out of 15 who are on record with their opposition, with the rest of the committee's stance unknown to the public. The mayor is delaying their vote until he is sure there is a majority in support.

Another wrinkle is that on July 1st, the group who wants to recall the mayor can finally file with the city and start collecting signatures for the recall. The state attorney general will probably release his findings around that time, as well. If the mayor is recalled or forced to resign, then that is one supporting vote gone from the council.

Randy Leonard, another supporting vote, is also on record numerous times saying he won't vote for a deal that takes the Beavers out of Portland. Most people don't believe he will go so far as to submarine the MLS bid, though.

If the Lents baseball stadium doesn't work out, then the Beavers will probably just move to the suburbs or be sold to another market, and the PGE Park renovations will proceed without the new baseball stadium. That will put to rest the big political issues, such as raping a poor neighborhood of their urban renewal money or taking away park land or demolishing a veteran's memorial with architectural significance. But it adds a financial obstacle because the new baseball stadium would likely bring new revenue to the spectator facilities fund which helps pay for the PGE Park renovations.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

What context? This hasn't dragged on or taken "forever" yet. Especially for people on the other side of the country who aren't actually living it.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

The statue "Portlandia" watches over the citizens of downtown Portland.




Description: Portlandia is based on a figure in Portlands city seal of a woman, dressed in classical clothes, who welcomes traders into the port of the city. The sculpture is placed on the a landing on the third floor of the Portland Building. The sculpture is 36 feet tall but if Portlandia was magically to stand up, she would be over 50 feet tall. Portlandia is the second largest hammered copper statue in America (the largest is the Statue of Liberty).

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

Is that Sarah Jessica Parker?

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

IIRC the process leading up to the deal to build BMO Field took something like 4 years and went through numerous incarnations with different partners/tenants and different locations. Just because it all came together at the end doesn't mean it was anywhere near that easy to pull off or a sure thing. It also is a facility that is already in need of expansion, a new field, etc. and there's the looming threat of a CFL team moving in so you could say that while it has been a huge success it is also an ongoing process to improve and protect it.

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

No backsies!

 

Re: Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Soccer Stadium Financing In POrtland

How many second-graders right now are named "Portlandia?"