Notice What will it take for Portland to host an NBA All Star Game?

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I think it's going to take a vastly better effort from the Blazers and Portland than we've ever seen before to sell the NBA on the All Star coming to the Rose City. Book a couple of Cruise ships, complete with casinos, to tie up along the sea wall at Tom McCall Park and put together a water taxi service to haul folks to Moda. Tie in Mt. Hood skiing and fishing trips on the Oregon coast. Point out the absolute cornucopia of fantastic places to eat. We might want to spend a couple of years with some effective leadership cleaning up the homeless situation and crazy protests before trying to do the sales job though.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Here are Travel Portland's recommendations of what to see in Portland:

https://www.travelportland.com/plan/first-time-trip-to-portland/

Again, there is a lot on the list I love about Portland but these are not things that will have interest from attendants of large events and conventions.
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That is just plain bad. Been thinking this for a very long time. Portland simply is not a hot spot for this type of thing even when it has a great reputation which currently it doesn't.
Wellness and Rest? Hot springs and holistic wellness?
Waterfront Park?
Coffee and Bookstores?

The only thing Charles Barkley might like is the food carts? He certainly isn't going to the arboretum.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Maybe a few more bathrooms on the main concourse? The biggest complaint I hear about the Moda during games and events is the price of beer
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Not trying to gang up on your posts Sly but did you honestly not see the correlation to cheaper beer and a lack of bathrooms being a huge problem?
 
There's an easy and obvious solution here.

Bribes. It's a method that's worked in many situations for hundreds of years. It can work here too.

barfo
 
e_blazer said:
I think it's going to take a vastly better effort from the Blazers and Portland than we've ever seen before to sell the NBA on the All Star coming to the Rose City. Book a couple of Cruise ships, complete with casinos, to tie up along the sea wall at Tom McCall Park and put together a water taxi service to haul folks to Moda. Tie in Mt. Hood skiing and fishing trips on the Oregon coast. Point out the absolute cornucopia of fantastic places to eat. We might want to spend a couple of years with some effective leadership cleaning up the homeless situation and crazy protests before trying to do the sales job though.
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Bing Bango Bongo....this
One hell of a concerted on behalf of Oregon Politicians, Blazer Ownership/Brass & Local community.
 
barfo said:
There's an easy and obvious solution here.

Bribes. It's a method that's worked in many situations for hundreds of years. It can work here too.
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If Phil Knight buys the team, there will be leverage. Bribes wont be necessary.
 
Hoopguru said:
Bing Bango Bongo....this
One hell of a concerted on behalf of Oregon Politicians, Blazer Ownership/Brass & Local community.
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And working with the business community to try to develop something sustainable to expand Portland and Oregon in general as a place to visit. There are undoubtedly logistical issues, but why couldn’t Portland be a regular port of call for cruise ships? I’m sure some of them have too deep of draft, but if navy vessels can get here for Rose Festival, it can’t be out of the realm of possibility. For the ASG, I could see cruises from LA or the Bay Area up the coast as an attraction. Maybe have some of the old guard players on board. An Alaskan cruise could take off from Portland after the game. Seems like a broader vision is needed.
 
Ive spent a lot of time own SLC on business and it has nothing over Portland and what available except maybe the Temple and sure there is a ski resort hour plus away but we have ski resorts too and not everyone ski's.
We offer more of a variety and the I5 corridore goes right through town.
 
Hoopguru said:
Ive spent a lot of time own SLC on business and it has nothing over Portland and what available except maybe the Temple and sure there is a ski resort hour plus away but we have ski resorts too and not everyone ski's.
We offer more of a variety and the I5 corridore goes right through town.
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You are arguing against facts here. SLC has twice the hotel rooms. It would not have them if it could not support them. People do not pay to keep resources that are not used, that's a loss of money.

If your argument here is that Portland does not have enough hotel rooms to support the demand... well, I have no way to say if it's true or not. I will say however that as someone that no longer lives in Portland, any time I came to visit - I had no issues to get a hotel room at a reasonable price in just about any section of the city I wanted to stay at, so I am not sure that's true, but I honestly do not know.
 
After listening to talk shows today on the Allstar game........why would we even want to pay the high prices for a ticket to such a colossal embarrassment of a "game". And those words are coming from ex-NBA players.
 
andalusian said:
You are arguing against facts here. SLC has twice the hotel rooms. It would not have them if it could not support them. People do not pay to keep resources that are not used, that's a loss of money.

If your argument here is that Portland does not have enough hotel rooms to support the demand... well, I have no way to say if it's true or not. I will say however that as someone that no longer lives in Portland, any time I came to visit - I had no issues to get a hotel room at a reasonable price in just about any section of the city I wanted to stay at, so I am not sure that's true, but I honestly do not know.
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Not at all arguing with regards to number of motel rooms. Imo there's more of a variety of things out here to do.
 
Hoopguru said:
Ive spent a lot of time own SLC on business and it has nothing over Portland and what available except maybe the Temple and sure there is a ski resort hour plus away but we have ski resorts too and not everyone ski's.
We offer more of a variety and the I5 corridore goes right through town.
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I've never been to SLC but it's my understanding that they have a designated entertainment district next to/near their arena. A place where people can go before and after games.

Portland/Moda does not have this. Dr Jack's is okay but it's one option and the hours are very limited pre and post-event. Getting a drink after the game, the nearest place is Spirit of 77. Going to concerts and games at the Moda there are very few places you can go to that is then a quick and easy walk to or from the arena.

Many times you have talked about your daughter and a bad time she had in downtown Portland, knowing this, where would you recommend she goes with her friends before and after a concert?
 
We weren't getting it when we were hip Portlandia. Now that we're L'il Beirut, we stand no chance.
 
Hoopguru said:
Not at all arguing with regards to number of motel rooms. Imo there's more of a variety of things out here to do.
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Okay, if friends of yours from out of town are staying at the convention center hotel, where would you recommend they visit within walking distance? Dinner? Entertainment? Sightseeing?
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Real talk time, I love Portland. I know this city and its history better than most.

When they talk about Portland not having enough hotel rooms that is an overly simplistic take that has not been explained in detail to people.

It's not just rooms, it is also what goes with rooms, things like places to eat and entertainment.

Besides the game, where do 10-15 thousand people go to eat and for fun near the Moda center?

What is there to do in Portland?

The Portland area's biggest tourist attraction? Ilani Casino.

The new convention center hotel will be bankrupt and closed by the time we eventually get an All-Star game.

The citizens of Portland were sold a bill of goods about the convention center expansion and co-financing the convention center hotel. "Build it, and they will come!" But they're not. If you were going to hold a large convention somewhere would you pick Portland? Here are the Top 10 most popular convention cities:

The top 10 cities are:

  1. Orlando, FL
  2. Washington, DC
  3. Las Vegas, NV
  4. Miami, FL
  5. Chicago, IL
  6. San Diego, CA
  7. Phoenix, AZ
  8. Atlanta, GA
  9. Dallas, TX
  10. New Orleans, LA
Portland's rank, 38th on some lists, and unranked on others.

This doesn't mean Portland is bad, or the NBA hates Portland, it just means we can't handle that big of an event.
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Truth
 
SlyPokerDog said:
I've never been to SLC but it's my understanding that they have a designated entertainment district next to/near their arena. A place where people can go before and after games.

Portland/Moda does not have this. Dr Jack's is okay but it's one option and the hours are very limited pre and post-event. Getting a drink after the game, the nearest place is Spirit of 77. Going to concerts and games at the Moda there are very few places you can go to that is then a quick and easy walk to or from the arena.

Many times you have talked about your daughter and a bad time she had in downtown Portland, knowing this, where would you recommend she goes with her friends before and after a concert?
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Granddaughter who was around 14 at the time.

You are correct in that their arena is virtually down town and there are close by places. They did a decent job of keeping the area under control and clean from what I can recall.
Yeah, not much around the Moda. I used to hit Tony R's years ago.
Not sure why Portland hasn't made more of an entrainment area there, I thought that they had plans with the old Tbird hotel and beyond?
 
Honestly, the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to give Spirit Mountain Casino a 30yr lease to the MC for $1 as long as they agree that as long as they leave the glass alone they can do anything they want to the inside. All casino, half casino half concert hall, whatever. They know how to keep people entertained far better than the city of Portland does.

Also, you would get more big conventions just by having a casino nearby.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Okay, if friends of yours from out of town are staying at the convention center hotel, where would you recommend they visit within walking distance? Dinner? Entertainment? Sightseeing?
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They could easily take a cab or Uber downtown I believe Portland still has some fine restaurants? Many would be staying downtown anyway. And some in the outskirts or on the Columbia. I agree that the area Moda is at is not that convenient, but that's Portland 's leaderships fault.
A l otto of talk over the years about making it E hub. Oh, don't we have the most topless bars per capita, there could be emphasis on that and have free Uber and cab rides too but not back.
 
This city is talking a baseball stadium in an area that would require a whole bunch of changes.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Honestly, the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to give Spirit Mountain Casino a 30yr lease to the MC for $1 as long as they agree that as long as they leave the glass alone they can do anything they want to the inside. All casino, half casino half concert hall, whatever. They know how to keep people entertained far better than the city of Portland does.

Also, you would get more big conventions just by having a casino nearby.
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Getting a casino approved anywhere is anything but easy. The politics involved would never allow it.
 
Well obvious you do care cause your giving your time to this post again after you made it super clear your wasting your time for a 2nd time in a few hours. I want to say more but your a mod and not sure how far I can take it with ya so better off saying less -- good day /night to ya
 
SlyPokerDog said:
I've never been to SLC but it's my understanding that they have a designated entertainment district next to/near their arena. A place where people can go before and after games.
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I have been to SLC and to downtown SLC near the arena and our little town of San Marcos, CA has more things to do at night than that section of SLC, honestly. Hack, I spent a night there just last August on a drive from dropping a kid at college. The town of Bismark North Dakota seemed to have more of a nightlife than SLC.

I honestly do not think this is the big issue, it's hotel room numbers.
 
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