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Hillsboro Expansion

P

Pounder

Active member
https://ballparkdigest.com/2022/01/20/hops-pitch-major-ron-tonkin-field-upgrades/

This appears to apply to the baseball stadium, not the football stadium. For now. Thought being placed on hosting concerts and more events overall.

That area strikes me as a place where they’re better off creating a separate amphitheater rather than expanding the ballpark. And I’m not sure Hillsboro (on the hook for $10 million in the initial agreement) wouldn’t be better off partnering with the Washington County Fairgrounds because of MAX access. And, while the Hops haven’t been a bad draw by any means, there’s not enough sellouts to justify an expansion… unless they’re dreaming of AAA.

Interesting
 
Pounder said:
https://ballparkdigest.com/2022/01/20/hops-pitch-major-ron-tonkin-field-upgrades/

This appears to apply to the baseball stadium, not the football stadium. For now. Thought being placed on hosting concerts and more events overall.

That area strikes me as a place where they’re better off creating a separate amphitheater rather than expanding the ballpark. And I’m not sure Hillsboro (on the hook for $10 million in the initial agreement) wouldn’t be better off partnering with the Washington County Fairgrounds because of MAX access. And, while the Hops haven’t been a bad draw by any means, there’s not enough sellouts to justify an expansion… unless they’re dreaming of AAA.

Interesting
Click to expand...

The Hops' executive guy has been on both Canzano and RCR with Chad Doing this week. Sounds like the expansion is part of the requirements from major league baseball that were set up when they went to full season. Talk is that Eugene is now balking at these requirements, putting the future of the Emeralds in jeopardy.

Also, talk on both shows were to separate the baseball and football concourses so as to have simultaneous events going on. Also, the city of Hillsboro wants to keep the Timbers minor league team, all PSU athletic teams, and the high school teams there (they have made that commitment to those teams).

Hops have a plan for the future. So do the Timbers. Tough to say that about most anything else in Portland (Blazers, Vikings, Pilots, homelessness, rioting, etc.)
 
bigskyconf said:
The Hops' executive guy has been on both Canzano and RCR with Chad Doing this week. Sounds like the expansion is part of the requirements from major league baseball that were set up when they went to full season. Talk is that Eugene is now balking at these requirements, putting the future of the Emeralds in jeopardy.

Also, talk on both shows were to separate the baseball and football concourses so as to have simultaneous events going on. Also, the city of Hillsboro wants to keep the Timbers minor league team, all PSU athletic teams, and the high school teams there (they have made that commitment to those teams).

Hops have a plan for the future. So do the Timbers. Tough to say that about most anything else in Portland (Blazers, Vikings, Pilots, homelessness, rioting, etc.)
Click to expand...

I’ve seen more than one media source say that the standards minor league baseball created for their ballparks made most of them “obsolete.” Probably deliberately, in order to maintain the ballpark escapades (I stopped just short of using the term “grift,” and it feels like it) and competition between cities for their teams.

Funny thing is that the Emeralds just went into negotiations with the Lane County Fairgrounds (a couple weeks ago?) for a new facility at that site. So I’m not sure if that’s stillborn or what. And to think that, given the lack of clubhouses and other things at PK Park, that MiLB shut down Salem-Keizer instead.
 
Should mention that I discovered the Hops game on the local CW station after the Stanley Cup game. K.L. Wombacher was talking about the ballpark work in perhaps more familiar terms… upgrading facilities to have nearly a 365-day presence.

I mean, eh, I’m about to go to my 2nd MLB game in the last 11 months, and my seats at both will have been in outfield bars. Done right, those kinds of places could be open for more than just baseball games (I know that the Giants outfield playground gets used on off days, for instance). Which makes sense in the middle of bigger cities. I suppose something could even make sense in Hillsboro. It does also explain the kinds of things being talked about in Eugene (especially since one can see at least as much synergy with the County Fairgrounds in Eugene as you could in the grounds at Hillsboro… probably more).
 
This took a turn. PSU softball is affected now.

https://www.kgw.com/article/sports/hillsboro-hops-announce-new-ballpark/283-61fc8cdd-ba16-4d65-be6e-e7085a91806c

The real head-scratcher is $120 million for 6,000 seats. The Hops aren’t packing the Tonk. The place has no suites, but this?

Only if they’re thinking it’s slightly expandable for AAA ball.

But there’s more.

If you’ve been paying attention, the owner of many regional sports networks (Sinclair, sub-licensed to Bally) has declared bankruptcy. MLB franchises affected by this are worried about losing 50-70% of their media revenue. MLB is prepared to go to in-house production and stream direct to consumers, but there is considerable doubt that this will make up for the losses. SO… MLB has requested a clause in current negotiations with the newly formed Minor League Players Association that allows them to shutter more minor league franchises. We’ll see if that comes to an impasse. But it’s possible the Northwest League could be folded. (Another piece of news has MiLB giving Eugene another year to solve its ballpark situation, which could mean there’s light at the end of the tunnel, or could mean the reduced revenue situation has caused a hedging)

It appears this project is going ahead regardless. Shrug again.
 
Timbers2 are out of Hillsboro. All games are at PP… and free.

$120 million for A ball still blows my mind, if it’s A-ball.
 
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