Seeking Help to Bring an M.L.S. Team to Portland (NYT Article)

[Red Harvest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/sports/soccer/07franchise.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[sostoked]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/sports/soccer/07franchise.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Can you just post what it says so I don't have to get a nytimes.com account? Thanks,

[j66j66]

www.bugmenot.com

[Asprilla9]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/sports/soccer/07franchise.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
thank you for that. repped.

[Artesian]

Can you just post what it says so I don't have to get a nytimes.com account? Thanks,

That's a no-no according to the TOS, and in general. Use some freaking webmail account, there are a billion options. You think anyone uses a cherished account to register for ANYTHING?

[Sport Billy]

Can you just post what it says so I don't have to get a nytimes.com account? Thanks,

Here is all you need to know.


“This is not a negotiation,” Paulson said. “The $85 million is it.”

Sam Adams, a city commissioner who will become the mayor on Jan. 1, chuckled.

“I guess that’s the opening salvo of the negotiations,” he said by telephone.

Adams and another commissioner on the City Council, Randy Leonard, support the project and reason that an M.L.S. team will increase the city’s national and international exposure, visitors and attendance in a market with one major league team, the N.B.A.’s Trail Blazers.

But they said they wanted to keep Paulson’s plan from using taxes that would diminish services in a city where recessionary effects usually lag behind the rest of the country.

Paulson has proposed using team revenues and ticket taxes to repay city-issued bonds, taxes from economic activity that would ostensibly increase in a commercial district around the renovated stadium, and a state income tax on players’ salaries.

“I’m not willing to do this unless I can see a reasonable return in three to five years,” said Adams, who has proposed other sites to reduce costs. “It’s got to pay for itself.”

Leonard said: “We have to limit our liability, and Merritt has to have a fair amount of skin in this game. My position is to get him to pay for as much of it as we can.”

Summary

Paulson says "I need $85 mil"
City - "we'll negotiate"
Paulson " I'm not negotiating"

If the city cracks, Portland is probably in.
If the city holds tight, Paulson needs to decide how much more of his own money does he want to invest.

[The Marquis]

He's retracted that statement since. Besides, the city is negotiating within itself, not as much with Paulson about how to pay.