Portland funding gap more like $26 million (not an April Fools thread)

Discussion in 'Portland Timbers' started by yellowbismark, Apr 1, 2009.

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  1. yellowbismark

    yellowbismark Member+

    Nov 7, 2000
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    Club Tijuana
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oregon Live article

    This is 1/3 of the total cost, and there was already uncertainty about how to raise the funds when the gap was supposedly $15 million. Doesn't look too good for Portland right now.
     
  2. UPinSLC

    UPinSLC Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    SL,UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    this is NOT correct.

    the funding gap is 15 million, the other 11 million they are talking about is the 11.8 or so that paulson agreed to finance by private measures (ie his own pocket or outside sources). this article is just trying to stir the pot, there is no new information from this. everything they say has already been known since the 3-2 vote last month. portland is fine, the money will be found somehow.
     
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  3. yellowbismark

    yellowbismark Member+

    Nov 7, 2000
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    Club Tijuana
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    very well, I'll defer to the locals who have been following this. I've got to stop reading fieldofschemes.com :eek:

    This post es presentado por Pepsi Mundo
     
  4. UPinSLC

    UPinSLC Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    SL,UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    stupid pepsi mundo, what a lame april fools joke :)
     
  5. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    qfe

    [​IMG]
     
  6. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The city council has a deadline on April 15th. Only 13 days away.
     
  7. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Not only that, the $31 million in bonds are also at risk. In this market, it's not a given that they could be sold.

    The whole Portland thing is pretty shaky right now. Hopefully this isn't another Cleveland.
     
  8. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    How far along did Cleveland actually get? Wasn't that supposed to be a dome or something?
     
  9. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here is an article that talks about the timeline:

    http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=123801683114688900

     
  10. Fenerbace

    Fenerbace Member

    Oct 8, 2008
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    Turkey
    Couple things to keep in mind:

    - The article is not referencing any new information - situation is as it was after vote.
    - The article was incorrect about the size of the gap - it is $10-15m
    - Everybody knew the bonds needed to be sold, nothing new here
    - The same paper published the "Portland Bid on Hold" 1 day before the announcement

    Just to summarize, there is work to be done, everybody knows that, but the Portland bid is no further away from reality today than it was on March 20th, the day Garber announced the expansion decision in Portland.
     
  11. Fenerbace

    Fenerbace Member

    Oct 8, 2008
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    Turkey
  12. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Keep in mind:
    The article isn't the only source of information
     
  13. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I have photos from the press conference (during MLS Cup 2003 week) announcing that MLS would be expanding to Cleveland in 2005.

    You'd have to ask Paul Garofolo, who was still a league VIP as late as the BMO Field opener in 2007, how far he and Wolstein got.
     
  14. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Did Cleveland get an icon at the top of mlsnet.com? Yeah, that's what I thought! :)
     
  15. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here's a recent article about Randy Leonard and the MLS bid: http://wweek.com/editorial/3521/12377/
     
  16. Fenerbace

    Fenerbace Member

    Oct 8, 2008
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    Turkey
    Yeah that's a nice article and gives a lot of background on Randy, which is why I believe that when he says someting is going to happen, it will actually happen.
     
  17. Fenerbace

    Fenerbace Member

    Oct 8, 2008
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    Turkey
    There were a couple of articles referencing eachother and the same speculation. I consider those pretty much the same source. I hope two articles referencing eachother wasn't the other source you would think would add new validity to this?

    But yes, there are other sources like the article that quotes Sam Adams saying these questions are typical for a project at this stage and Randy Leonard saying it will get done.

    Then there's the off-the record conversations that MLStoPDX folks have with Paulson and Council members as well.

    You're right though, those additional sources are important because they help Portland MLS fans sleep well at night knowing that the issue isn't any near as dire as some BigSoccer posters would like to portray it as.
     
  18. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    http://blog.oregonlive.com/oldtown/2009/03/pesky_thing_money.html

    I think Larry Norton's knee is jerking. Is he a conservative blogger, Portlanders? I can't tell for sure, but he sounds like one.

    Another article:

    http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2009/03...bligated-to-fill-the-15-million-funding-hole/

    And an interesting comment:

    Is this true? Anyone closer to the ground care to clarify? I was under the impression that Paulson guaranteed to pay back the bonds, and that was a big reason why the deal was such a good one for the city.
     
  19. gstommylee

    gstommylee Member+

    Oct 3, 2008
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Yea Paulson did guaranteed to pay back the bonds from what i heard and i was following what was going on in portland.
     
  20. The Marquis

    The Marquis Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 13, 2007
    Washougal, WA
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not Paulson did not guarantee to pay back the bonds, BUT HE DID guarantee to pay back the bonds if the funding measures put in place to pay back the bonds didn't work out. He said the bond payments are guaranteed whether 1 person or 20,000 shows up to the matches. Those are his exact words.
     
  21. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ah, okay. I think I understand. Technically the commenter is correct, because there is no legal language in any of the agreements yet that says he will back the bonds. But Paulson has given his personal guarantee that he will back the bonds if the city doesn't come through. Is this correct, Marquis?
     
  22. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    You can't trust a Paulson? Who'd think that?
     
  23. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Merritt Paulson is adamant that he will not fund the $15 million gap. Randy Leonard seems confident that the city will figure something out. Dan Saltzman says the city isn't responsible, and he is the swing vote. The zero-coupon bonds are going to be a hard sell in this market. There will be another vote on April 15th to approve the pre-development agreement. Anybody have an idea how that will go?
     
  24. Fenerbace

    Fenerbace Member

    Oct 8, 2008
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    Turkey
    Haven't you read the most recent articles in the O? Paul, you need to do better research because you don't really demonstrate much of an understanding of the situation.
     
  25. bright

    bright Member

    Dec 28, 2000
    Central District
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Can you post links to said articles? If it's the same articles that have already been posted to this thread, then I think I summed things up alright. Feel free to add any additional information that I missed. Thanks.
     

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