Could Portland Hold Another Professional Franchise?

[martymoose]

Not holding my breath, but to quote the movie Dumb & Dumber, "so you're saying there's a chance."

http://www.oregonlive.com/mlb/index.ssf/2017/10/portland_a_target_city_for_mlb.html

 

[Pounder]

Time for a surprise. There's juice behind this.

I really questioned whether there was an ownership group behind this as reported in the news. Going back over past statements... I'm led to believe that there is one.

The catch: this group is counting on three things.

- A long process; and this probably will happen. Maury Brown tells everyone on social media that MLB won't actually initiate an expansion process until Oakland and Tampa have stadiums or are ready to move. If leaders in the Tampa Bay region hold out, 2027 will be it at the earliest (end of the current lease). Oakland will probably get settled before then.

- Lukewarm interest elsewhere. That could happen, but it's more of a crapshoot. You have waning interest in baseball among younger populations, BUT you have the NFL starting to slide downhill. The NFL is starting to get scared by the numbers (emphasis on "starting" for now). Lots of things can happen in 7-10 years. But if there are fewer bidders, Portland gets in better shape.

- Where is Paul Allen in 7-10 years?

That last one... even if this consortium doesn't get MLB, there's other goals to be fulfilled by being involved in the process. Bringing another team to Portland (and threatening to fund it yourself, which John Canzano claims is part of the plan) puts pressure on Allen. That is provided Allen lives that long. What happens when Allen passes has been the $64 question; does the team go to his sister? Is it for sale? I believe the consortium is similar to/consists at least partially of a group that has wanted to buy the Blazers from Allen. THEN, they see the kind of development of the area (maybe the ballpark at PPS, maybe not) that Allen once hinted at with Jumptown, but clearly never had any intention of making happen. IF THE CITY GRANTS some of the land, they make money off the development. If they also get MLB, then you have quite the potential arena/stadium district happening.

Now... are you sure Portland State should favor this? Someone we know well here is dying to use the word synergy here right now, but the truth is that North American pro sports leagues and teams have generally leaned monopolistic these last couple decades. Just saying.

 

[Pounder]

Seattle interests finally got the attention of the NHL. The league announced they'd accept an expansion bid from Seattle. The bid has been placed. The plans for gutting and rebuilding Key Arena are undergoing EIS review at the moment. A ticket drive began this morning, giving people a chance to place $500 to $1,000 on prospective season tickets. That began this morning.

10,000 deposits in 10 minutes. 26,000 deposits (for an arena that will probably seat 17,000) in 2 hours.

It's believed the first puck will drop in 2021.

 

[martymoose]

Seattle interests finally got the attention of the NHL. The league announced they'd accept an expansion bid from Seattle. The bid has been placed. The plans for gutting and rebuilding Key Arena are undergoing EIS review at the moment. A ticket drive began this morning, giving people a chance to place $500 to $1,000 on prospective season tickets. That began this morning.

10,000 deposits in 10 minutes. 26,000 deposits (for an arena that will probably seat 17,000) in 2 hours.

It's believed the first puck will drop in 2021.

Good for Seattle. Pretty neat plans for Key Arena. Hopefully they can get the NBA back and get the Seattle/Portland rivalry going again.

https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/New-KeyArena-renderings-show-huge-glass-atrium-on-12710348.php

 

[martymoose]

Well this is getting a bit more interesting.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/04/post_629.html#incart_breaking

 

[Pounder]

Well this is getting a bit more interesting.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/04/post_629.html#incart_breaking

Prep for a baseball expansion? Rob Manfred has said as much.

Chances of the A's moving? Negative number. Portland is leverage and poorly conceived leverage at that. The funny part of that is the A's aren't even trying to leverage for public money they don't need. It's simply about prime real estate. It's solvable.

 

[Pounder]

RIP Paul Allen.

And here comes the media maelstrom, based on any number of possibilities involving the settling of the Blazers ownership, plus what happens to Rose Quarter property (and surroundings). There will be a lot of scenarios brought forward that could involve the NHL or maybe a new ballpark in the Rose Quarter.

And then, probably, nothing will really happen.

Main reason: the NBA has a lineup of people who want into the league. Example: it's not like Steve Ballmer was seeking to go after the Los Angeles Clippers. He was originally trying to help Chris Hansen arrange NBA's return to Seattle... and then they split. Or maybe Ballmer didn't think Hansen's plan was going anywhere. Who knows? The NBA kept tabs with Ballmer, he buys the Clippers, and currently he talks about getting a new arena built in Inglewood next to the NFL stadium currently being built for the Rams and Chargers. You have people like Larry Ellison who want into "the club," they point him to Portland... and they advise him, in all likelihood, not to deal with the NHL or Portland Diamond Group.

Of course, that's not 100% assured, and it's hard for the NBA to deny a truly viable local group. Thing is, as long as Phil Knight isn't interested (and he keeps saying he's not), who's a viable local group? Merritt Paulson isn't rich enough. Someone like Terry Emmert is even worse.

So stay tuned, but please, please no breath holding.

 

[VikThunder]

Seattle is big and rich enough to support the 4 major sports leagues plus MLS and the Huskies.

 

[bigskyconf]

People keep bringing up Phil Knight's name alot, both here and elsewhere. Knight has given money to pretty much every Oregon college, not just UofO, but he is 80 years old. If a team or organization is looking for a long term owner, his age may take him away from consideration. Allen owned the Blazers for almost 30 years. I highly doubt Knight will live that long.

 

[Pounder]

You’re probably familiar with the recent news of Portland Diamond Project preparing an offer for RedTail Golf Club out near Washington Square. You may have chuckled. I may have used the information to agitate my wife, who already “loves” the area traffic.

What you probably don’t know is Commissioner Gonzalez tweeting a response a couple nights ago. I will not be linking to his post due to having no desire to endorse the guy, though there’s a rather Portland passive-aggressive shtick going on with the post that’s kind of funny. Still…

”We have to protect and strengthen the heart of the city. Baseball at Lloyd Center would do that.There are considerable challenges with the site. If we can work to get a deal done there, we should. If we can’t, we should be able to explain why. The window is closing rapidly.”

(So a questionable statement of how baseball would revitalize Lloyd, but interesting focus as PDP appeared to abandon that option)

“Before any vote to put Red Tail Golf Course on the table as an alternative, the City should receive answers to the following questions: Who is the ownership/investing group? Will it only be for baseball? How do they plan to address the major traffic issues that would come with this development in the suburbs? Most importantly, what will the impact of such major suburban development be on Portland’s urban core?”

You’re tempted to focus on “will it only be for baseball?” I’m more focused on “who is the ownership/investing group” because this just revealed that PDP is hiding important details from the city. The organization pretty much made their supposed money partners public at the start, but that group alone didn’t have the money to even buy the team. So the question in my mind is if they’re hiding a whale investor, or are they hiding the lack of a whale investor?

Add to that the $50 million offer already being sussed out by people as being dirt cheap ($7 per square foot) compared to most properties around town. But now it’s starting to come out as to why PDP hasn’t gotten anywhere in the space of 7 years or so.

(BTW- it took a little time to fish this out from behind the dung pile of spam that got thrown here four years ago. It’s quite interesting to reread this thread after several events have transpired.)