OT MLB to PDX: We're talking baseball to PDX

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Phatguysrule said:
Well, damming the Willamette probably wouldn't be necessary.

Is there a better location for a stadium? What would you suggest?

I guess, the answer to your question of "why", would be that it's easier or more attainable than other options.

I don't actually know if that's the case. But it seems like if that were the only option they could figure out how to build a stadium in that location without the price being so high that it would torpedo the whole idea.

But from your perspective (as somebody with some clear expertise in this) I am curious what alternatives would you suggest?
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Tough to say. It’s not my money.
I personally liked the T-1, T-2 site.
 
kjironman1 said:
This has now been on people's desks for over a month. I still have not seen even one reasonable rendering on building on that site. Everyone is saying it will be very expensive to work around the existing structures and dealing with the lack of usable space.
Starting to think they better start selling more hats...
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All I hear is excuses. Yeah I'm going to need you to come in to work Saturday n Sunday. Mind>matter.
 
Phatguysrule said:
But from your perspective (as somebody with some clear expertise in this) I am curious what alternatives would you suggest?
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I think we need to one-up Seattle. Think Space Needle, but instead of a lame rotating restaurant at the top, a rotating ballpark.

barfo
 
barfo said:
I think we need to one-up Seattle. Think Space Needle, but instead of a lame rotating restaurant at the top, a rotating ballpark.

barfo
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You're right. This is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking that we need.
 
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kjironman1 said:
This has now been on people's desks for over a month. I still have not seen even one reasonable rendering on building on that site. Everyone is saying it will be very expensive to work around the existing structures and dealing with the lack of usable space.
Starting to think they better start selling more hats...
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Dude they’ll figure it out. It’s not impossible. We see shit around the world that are modern marvels. I’m sure it’ll be expensive like you said but if they’re motivated as they say they are they’ll get it figured out
 
barfo said:
I think we need to one-up Seattle. Think Space Needle, but instead of a lame rotating restaurant at the top, a rotating ballpark.

barfo
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The MLB guys should be Portlandia and make it one of the foul poles. And whenever they hit her, it lights up
 
Lawmakers and Incoming State Treasurer May Help Bring Major League Baseball to Portland
At a stakeholder gathering, the concrete idea that emerges is to increase the bonding authority available to help fund a team.
By Nigel Jaquiss
November 22, 2024 at 8:06 pm PST
The long-running effort to bring Major League Baseball to Portland took a small step forward this week.

The Portland Diamond Project, the group that’s been working on securing a stadium site and a team for more than seven years, gathered numerous elected officials Nov. 21 at the downtown office of the Portland Metro Chamber, including Mayor Ted Wheeler, Mayor-elect Keith Wilson, many city councilors and legislators, State Treasurer Tobias Read, and Treasurer-elect Elizabeth Steiner. (Many business leaders also attended, and Gov. Tina Kotek sent a representative from her office.)

The Portland Diamond Project presented detailed renderings of what a stadium at Zidell Yards in South Waterfront would look like and introduced baseball executives and insiders from around the country who spoke in support of the project.

Major League Baseball has speculated for years about expanding from 30 to 32 teams, and Portland as well as Salt Lake City are regularly listed as the two leading candidates for franchises west of the Rocky Mountains.
Although the Portland Diamond Project still hasn’t identified the source of the billions of dollars it would take to buy a franchise and build a stadium, the assembled group did make progress on another source of funding this week: the possible use of income-tax bonds to help finance the operation.

Back in 2003, when Portland, then led by Mayor Vera Katz, was chasing the Montreal Expos, lawmakers passed a law creating $150 million in bonding authority to help acquire the franchise. The state would use income taxes from players’ and team employees’ salaries to pay off the bonds. The concept is sometimes called “but for” financing because the tax revenue used to retire the bonds would not exist but for the presence of a team. The law generated controversy at the time, with critics saying there were more pressing uses for tax dollars than baseball.

It became a moot point when the Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Nationals.
But that bonding authority never went away, and talk at the Portland Metro Chamber’s office quickly came around to whether it could be used today. (Adjusted for inflation, $150 million in 2003 would be $256 million in 2024 dollars.)

State Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland) says the plan he saw at the chamber offices was the most detailed and impressive of the many he’s viewed since he first covered an earlier effort to bring MLB to Portland as a TV reporter 40 years ago.

Frederick says the issue of going to the Legislature to increase the bonding capacity was a big topic of conversation. “How would people respond? The present state treasurer and the incoming treasurer were there—she [Steiner] will have a lot of say,” Frederick says. “If there’s a bill, the argument will be the same as it was in the past. Could we be leveraging the tax money for something else other than baseball?”

Watchdog groups and advocates for a variety of progressive causes are l
 
kjironman1 said:
Well I’m down here building the new Albina Library in the old neighborhood. Not much optimism about baseball yet but let’s hope they get it done.
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“The Portland Diamond Project presented detailed renderings of what a stadium at Zidell Yards in South Waterfront would look like and introduced baseball executives and insiders from around the country who spoke in support of the project.”

There’s your detailed renderings you been waiting for
 
Kano John said:
Lawmakers and Incoming State Treasurer May Help Bring Major League Baseball to Portland
At a stakeholder gathering, the concrete idea that emerges is to increase the bonding authority available to help fund a team.
By Nigel Jaquiss
November 22, 2024 at 8:06 pm PST
The long-running effort to bring Major League Baseball to Portland took a small step forward this week.

The Portland Diamond Project, the group that’s been working on securing a stadium site and a team for more than seven years, gathered numerous elected officials Nov. 21 at the downtown office of the Portland Metro Chamber, including Mayor Ted Wheeler, Mayor-elect Keith Wilson, many city councilors and legislators, State Treasurer Tobias Read, and Treasurer-elect Elizabeth Steiner. (Many business leaders also attended, and Gov. Tina Kotek sent a representative from her office.)

The Portland Diamond Project presented detailed renderings of what a stadium at Zidell Yards in South Waterfront would look like and introduced baseball executives and insiders from around the country who spoke in support of the project.

Major League Baseball has speculated for years about expanding from 30 to 32 teams, and Portland as well as Salt Lake City are regularly listed as the two leading candidates for franchises west of the Rocky Mountains.
Although the Portland Diamond Project still hasn’t identified the source of the billions of dollars it would take to buy a franchise and build a stadium, the assembled group did make progress on another source of funding this week: the possible use of income-tax bonds to help finance the operation.

Back in 2003, when Portland, then led by Mayor Vera Katz, was chasing the Montreal Expos, lawmakers passed a law creating $150 million in bonding authority to help acquire the franchise. The state would use income taxes from players’ and team employees’ salaries to pay off the bonds. The concept is sometimes called “but for” financing because the tax revenue used to retire the bonds would not exist but for the presence of a team. The law generated controversy at the time, with critics saying there were more pressing uses for tax dollars than baseball.

It became a moot point when the Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Nationals.
But that bonding authority never went away, and talk at the Portland Metro Chamber’s office quickly came around to whether it could be used today. (Adjusted for inflation, $150 million in 2003 would be $256 million in 2024 dollars.)

State Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland) says the plan he saw at the chamber offices was the most detailed and impressive of the many he’s viewed since he first covered an earlier effort to bring MLB to Portland as a TV reporter 40 years ago.

Frederick says the issue of going to the Legislature to increase the bonding capacity was a big topic of conversation. “How would people respond? The present state treasurer and the incoming treasurer were there—she [Steiner] will have a lot of say,” Frederick says. “If there’s a bill, the argument will be the same as it was in the past. Could we be leveraging the tax money for something else other than baseball?”

Watchdog groups and advocates for a variety of progressive causes are l
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Voters would never approve another bond to acquire a team. That's justly opinion however.
 
Hoopguru said:
Voters would never approve another bond to acquire a team. That's justly opinion however.
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According to the article I don't believe that voters would have to approve this particular bond. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.
 
It’s funny all these politicians coming together for this now. If Portland hadn’t fallen off a cliff since 2020 they would never care for this. But I’m not complaining
 
AldoTrapani said:
“The Portland Diamond Project presented detailed renderings of what a stadium at Zidell Yards in South Waterfront would look like and introduced baseball executives and insiders from around the country who spoke in support of the project.”

There’s your detailed renderings you been waiting for
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No they didn’t. Those were copies of old possibilities that don’t fit.
 
kjironman1 said:
No they didn’t. Those were copies of old possibilities that don’t fit.
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Really? Not saying your wrong but describing it as detailed renderings by the writer and what your saying is a wide gap. Do you know anybody that was there?
 
AldoTrapani said:
Really? Not saying your wrong but describing it as detailed renderings by the writer and what your saying is a wide gap. Do you know anybody that was there?
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All I saw was overlays of existing stadiums and how they might cram it into a site too small. None of them looked feasible either. Only way I see it working is if they push it out 50 some feet into the river, which would be sweet but enviros would never let it happen. Still not convinced this site works.
 
So I got some info for ya..

A major press release is coming in late January. There’s one rendering I saw showing the ballpark oriented northeast (meaning right field will be the Willamette). The retractable roof is oriented east-west.

Stadium looks like Globe Life Field which is the Rangers new stadium. And obviously the redevelopment opportunities will be south of the Ross Island Bridge which is all the room left on the site.

The only major competitor in the west we have is Utah. MLB plans to award a team in early 2026 with the goal being starting play in 2030
 
AldoTrapani said:
The only major competitor in the west we have is Utah. MLB plans to award a team in early 2026 with the goal being starting play in 2030
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I am seriously confused by Manfred's statement that one of the eventual expansion teams needs to be in the eastern time zone.
 
AldoTrapani said:
So I got some info for ya..

A major press release is coming in late January. There’s one rendering I saw showing the ballpark oriented northeast (meaning right field will be the Willamette). The retractable roof is oriented east-west.

Stadium looks like Globe Life Field which is the Rangers new stadium. And obviously the redevelopment opportunities will be south of the Ross Island Bridge which is all the room left on the site.

The only major competitor in the west we have is Utah. MLB plans to award a team in early 2026 with the goal being starting play in 2030
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Cool info. Utah definitely has momentum. I'll honestly be pissed if Utah gets NHL and MLB, Seattle gets NHL and NBA (back), and Vegas get MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL and we get a new hat.
 
julius said:
Cool info. Utah definitely has momentum. I'll honestly be pissed if Utah gets NHL and MLB, Seattle gets NHL and NBA (back), and Vegas get MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL and we get a new hat.
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Honestly them getting NHL I think helps us.. no way that population can support 3 major league franchises..
 
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