Here is a great commentary that appeared today regarding MLS in Portland by one of the Timbers Army own. http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1049460995217020.xml Money guys are the real problem here in Portland. Phil Knight and Nike are around but they have showed fhuck all interest in Portland sports (Umbro sponsors the Timbers). We have few other wealthy guys, who are sports oriented, who could foot a bill for MLS on their own. It would have to be something similar to the ownership group they put together for PFE (the Timbers and Beavers owner) now MSG (or something like that). The problem is those wealthy guys were burned badly with the shite that went down in 2001 so I doubt they are going to be willing to jump back into the water anytime soon. We also have a problem with our Mayor having a complete hard-on for MLB, even though it would make us build a $350 million dollar stadium that you know the taxpayers would have to foot the bill for. The biggest thing we got going here in Portland is a great soccer stadium and little "Major League" competition.
Hey Fin has your hangover from Seattle worn off yet? Portlands best chance for MLS will be if baseball leaves PGE Park, which won't happen if Portland does not get MLB. Please pray for baseball!
Portland Senate Concurrent Resolution 8405: Creating a Joint Select Committee on Securing a Second Major League Baseball Team for the Pacific Northwest. The resolution died, but you'd think a state senator from Seattle would have better things to do. Ken Jacobsen is part of the state Democratic leadership, however, and in 1991 he introduced legislation to fund a soccer stadium. As someone strongly opposed to corporate welfare, I hope any new Portland baseball or soccer stadium isn't publicly funded. I still have relatives there, and I don't want them paying for a luxury they wouldn't use. Besides that, there probably is enough interest and money in PDX for MLB to fund a team and stadium - it's a matter of getting sports fans to open their wallets. I read that the Oregon State football program, which has only recently prospered after decades of decay, needed only a single afternoon to raise $10 million for a stadium expansion or training facility. I might be alone in this opinion, but I'm convinced there's enough support for both Puget Sound MLS and Portland MLB to fund an operation entirely by private means. For Portland MLS I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if local soccer fans also have the financial wherewithal. --- More contrarian items for the "Seahawks Stadium or bust" crowd. Remember, nobody anticipated Dragon Stadium.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed here or not, but here's an interesting article about the Grande Ronde Tribe's proposal to buy Portland a baseball stadium in exchange for the right to open a casino in Portland: http://www.indiancountry.com/article/1049295196
The casino-baseball stadium idea is all but dead now that the govenor has said he won't approve a casino in Portland. The baseball in Portland people are now trying to push a bill through the state senate to fund a stadium by using the revenue from the taxes on players salaries. Should be a tough sell given the state's economy and the urban/rural divide that exists in the senate.
Geo's assertion that Portland MLB could get private stadium backing was laughable. Nobody locally is even stepping up to invest in the "team," and MLB made an emphatic statement that the metro providing the highest percentage of public funding for a stadium will likely get premium consideration. I hear there might be enough support for the bill in the Oregon legislature (not that there isn't an urban v rural problem), but I strongly suspect that the MLB timeline (all-star break) and the likely point when the legislature will actually want to address the bill (end of the session, probably in July, certainly AFTER all the difficult decisions about school funding and deficit closure are addressed) might be too tight for Portland. OTOH, there's the lawyerly Peter Angelos ready to sue MLB regarding any award to DC or NoVa, so stay tuned... and don't be surprised if we're doing the same thing next year with the Expos still in Montreal. The tribal casino proposal is part of a larger doink-around, won't bore you with the details, but that has a lot to do with another tribe trying to end a law (or maybe just a moratorium) on siting on off-tribal-owned property. Well, my mantra on this is "investor first, then everything else falls in place." Familiar refrain, no? Probably has more to do with the Seattle situation than the Seahawks ever did, and probably the reason Geo shouldn't be so upset with the MLS (Doug Logan's big mouth long ago "censured" by dismissal).
MLS Announcement From the Sounders' website: (Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Sounders will hold media day on April 18th from 10-12pm at Seahawks Stadium and make an announcement concerning Major League Soccer (MLS). ----- I don't know whether to be excited or bummed about this announcement. I mean, obviously they can't have secured an expansion team yet, and they wouldn't really announce that they're "throwing their hat in the ring", if Garber already has Seattle on the short list, right? But then you wouldn't advertise an announcement just to say you're out of the running either, would you? So what the heck are they going to announce?
Re: MLS Announcement I was wondering that myself. I got this from the good folks over at Sounder Nation though: "An announcement surrounding MLS and Seattle is due on April 18 at the Sounders Media Day. Hunch here is it will have to do with the friendly v. San Jose Earthquakes as part of the Brian Ching transfer, but hopefully there's more to it..." ( http://soundernation.tripod.com/whatsnew.htm ) So that's probably it. isn't it about time somebody started a new Seattle thread?
Re: Re: MLS Announcement Somebody did, but this thread has sort have become the de-facto Seattle thread, so the other one kind of died down.