Reading Links:
The City is close to a deal to put the new Triple AAA Baseball Park in Lents Park.
The original article announcing the change in venue from Memorial Coliseum to Lents Park
Anna Griffin from the Oregonian asks should we care about the Beavers at all?
William Glasgow talks about MLS again and gets schooled in the comments
The Trail Blazers' plan to refurbish the Memorial Coliseum isn't without its own set of risks.
And apparently, the cost of upgrading the Memorial Coliseum is about as much or more than actually building a baseball park there.
So it would appear that things in the MLS to PDX and the Portland Beavers world have gotten a bit clearer, but things have really changed a lot since my last posting about it. To recap the high points, the Memorial Coliseum is safe from demolition for now as the baseball park is now being considered for Lents Park. The particulars couldn’t be worked out, as the Trail Blazers decided to support their Live Area concept of restaurants and shops around the Rose Garden, although it’s now been determined that the cost of saving the MC will be significantly more than the cost of putting the ball park there.
So why are we at this point? Well, apparently, the Trail Blazers and a small chorus of architectural professionals have convinced the city that the MC should be saved, because of its structure and significance to the area. Yet, in the 15 years since the Rose Garden was built, the Trail Blazers have effectively done nothing in the area around their arena, and the MC has fallen further into disrepair. It still serves a purpose as the home to the Winter Hawks hockey team and other assorted events, but the arena is slowly dying in front of our eyes. I place a lot of the blame squarely on the city and the Trail Blazers, as it was their responsibility to keep the arena updated. The Trail Blazers owed it to the city as part of their operating agreement to help keep the MC updated, yet it hasn’t made a dent in the overall condition. The city should have been more proactive in keeping the Trail Blazers at their word, but instead, they just let things sit where they currently are.
The city council had the right idea in bring the ballpark to the MC, where it would be centrally located, easily accessible to transit, and put near the center of the city. It would revitalize the area, giving baseball the attention it deserves while giving PGE Park new life as a soccer and football facility. But instead, the NIMBYs and naysayers clouded the facts of the deal, stating that this was a bad deal for the city and the MC deserves a better fate. And so now, we are looking at putting the ballpark in SE Portland.
While it’s not the center of the city, Lents Park wants the ballpark there and I think it will do quite well in the area, giving the neighborhood an anchor that it has been lacking for a while. It should attract development, it will bring people to watch games in an area that is deserving attention, and allow baseball to flourish. I’m based this simply on the enthusiasm for bringing baseball there, along with the attention that most teams get in a new stadium. Portland is a good baseball town, and we will support this team, despite the challenges. It doesn’t help when the Mariners have a hold on the area because of their aggressive marketing and television presence, as well as the fact that Triple AAA baseball, by nature, is hard to market at points because players come and go all the time. Unlike other sports, it’s hard to build the face of the franchise when the faces change all the time. But give the Beavers credit, they are getting more attention now than they have in a while. And unlike other versions of the Beavers, it's nice to put them in an area that really wants them there.
But the fact that this park should be in the Memorial Coliseum instead is a travesty, and the blame can be pointed in many different directions. The Trail Blazers don’t want direct competition on their doorstep unless they have control of the revenue streams, and I can see why they opposed the baseball deal. It’s too bad that they couldn’t see the benefit of revitalizing the area by bringing a baseball team that wouldn’t directly compete on most scheduling nights, and attract more people to the area for events. We aren’t a Live Concept kind of town, especially since we already have neighborhoods that have the same amenities that are being offered by this. But the Trail Blazers have had such a monopoly on the attention of sports fans here, they want to protect their position at all costs, never mind that having another top-level professional team would improve the overall sports profile of our area, and draw attention away from the team at key points. When the Trail Blazers were having all sorts of off the court issues, I bet they would have likely having some other sports around to distract attention. It's about establishing a sports profile for your town, and the Trail Blazers at this point prefer to have the spotlight all to themselves, whether it's best for the city or not.
I blame the city for not realizing or supporting the deal more than they should have. I get that you want to have a public process here, and it’s important to see all sides of things, but at the same point, the facts need to be made and presented. In looking at the costs of the Live Concept, the cost of it doesn’t compare to the cost of putting baseball there, yet that distinction was hardly made. I understand that some of our political figures have issues right now, but you have to stay with your convictions unless you are proved wrong, and none of the criticisms leveled by the opponents carried enough weight to cause this kind of reversal. Every point could be refuted, yet we still have plan B coming around because the voices kept saying this won't work. I have news for those that say keeping the MC is a good idea, it's coming down whether you like it or not. It's a matter of whether you want a developer to help with the costs and put forth a good idea for the space or the alternative of having it destroyed for some cookie cutter bars and restaurants.
I blame the sports fans who are pining for MLB and NFL or just hate soccer in general. I respect the desire to have those leagues come to town, but if you are struggling to commit $88 million in funds for MLS, how can you justify spending 10 to 12 times as much to bring MLB or NFL here. Recent stadiums for both leagues are costing around $700 million, and that doesn’t include the needs for corporate support or the need for ticket sales. We watch games quite a bit, but does that translate into success when it’s live? MLS is a great jumping point to establish Portland as a real sports town, and will cause MLB, NFL or other sports that want to come to town to look at us differently when it’s a success. And soccer is growing in popularity here and abroad, where it’s already a hugely popular sport and America in on the cusp of ingraining it into regular sports. But instead of realizing that other sports help bring attention to a profile and supporting them will make a market more attractive, it’s easier to belittle or hate on it. Mind you, I have a beef with some soccer fans that couldn’t care less about baseball and it’s future, because as long as the teams share a stadium, their futures are intertwined and will be until they both get taken care of. And our future with baseball is much better than if they leave, as it will give further credence to the non-sports fans of another team that got away for whatever reason.
I blame the media for not asking the right questions until now, and providing a thorough and well written analysis of the deal in detail. Instead, the facts came out very piece meal, and it distorted the picture at points. Mind you, the sound bites are catchy and easily digestible, but they don't provide an honest investigation unless necessary. I give the Oregonian some credit for trying to keep up, but they've done as much damage by printing stories from people that don't completely understand the facts of the situation, using tired and faulty arguments to make their point.
But finally, I blame the NIMBYs who use pithy quotes and misinformation to cause undecided people to make faulty decisions. I get that you might not like soccer or sports in general, but this plan won’t hurt the city or their providing services to those in need. While it’s important to take care of potholes and kids, it’s also important to give citizens things to do when they aren’t working, and sports does that. And cities want to own stadiums, not only to share in revenues but also to have some control over teams in case they want to leave for greener pastures. What makes sense is teams and cities working together to find a deal that works for everyone. And while this plan was on the table before, it’s now dead and so Portland moves forward with plan B.
I’m not worried about the long-term fortunes of either team, because I think for a fallback plan, this will work just fine. What I worry mostly about is the attitude that keeps Portland in a perpetual state of wanting to keep the status quo. We want to keep the town weird, but at the same point for many residents, it’s important to keep things as close to the way they are as possible, using the process to help. Let’s talk to whomever will listen, and try to use whatever tactics we can to make whatever point we can to gain traction against the plan. So many good ideas have come through town and left, yet all I seem to hear about at points is what is wrong with what has been done.
For a supposedly progressive city, we seem to lack in confidence to make tough choices, especially when the “I told you so” people pop up all the time. I get the Tram was a huge cost overrun, I get that we are in tough economic times right now, but at the same time, tough times demand tough choices and conviction, and right now, our city is struggling in that area. I feel that Sam Adams is still our best choice for Mayor, because he has shown the ability to make tough choices, even if he’s made a mistake or two in his life. And I think if he survives the recall, we’ll see more leadership in that area. Otherwise, I worry about the next few years in our city with the mass asylum running the show.
The Timbers played Cleveland last Saturday and drew nil to nil. For the non-soccer group, that is zero to zero. My plan really is to only do match reports on matches that I actually see in person, either on TV or on the computer, and I had a match of my own to play Saturday night. The Timbers are in action Thursday night versus Rochester, with a late 8 PM start due to the game being on Fox Soccer Channel. Hope to see you all there.
Showing posts with label Merritt Paulson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merritt Paulson. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
So Now What Happens
I couldn't think of a better title after last week's events, but it is a question I've been asked by a lot of my friends. Especially since the City Council voted 3 to 2 to the agreement to work on an agreement, so what's the next step?
Well, I could write it all down, or just link you to Mark Larrabee's last article about it, which really does a good job of explaining the next steps. There's still a lot of work to do, but what this does do is allow Merritt Paulson to start talking more to MLS, and allows more concrete work to be done in firming up the financing. There's still the $15 million dollar question to be figured out, plus there's also the question of where do the Trail Blazers stand on all of this?
As you may know from reading this blog or the newspaper, the Trail Blazers made a last ditch attempt to submarine the MLS deal. I did get a very nice email from the team about it, saying it was miscommunication on their part, but they want to make sure their vision matches the vision for the area. With all due respect to the team, the Coliseum isn't theirs to decide what to do, and the fact that this tidbit of information is even under contention makes me more angry at the team. They've finally got things going the right way on the court, but instead of making smart business decisions, they make short sighted decisions without gaging the impact. A large portion of the team's fan base still can't see the games on cable because Comcast Sports Net isn't on most satellite systems, the team is raising ticket prices in most parts of the arena, and then this. Seriously, are you just trying to kill any good will the town has for this team? I know it's hard to separate the team from the business end, but for me, that's really what I will need to do over the next few weeks. It's sad because I am happy they are making a playoff run, but at the same time, the greed and lack of forethought lately makes me wonder about the culture of the team.
The schools are also ramping up for any fight about the potential of an urban renewal district, courtesy of the commissioner of the county, Ted Wheeler. One organization, Stand for Children, was so proud of their efforts to get this removed, they celebrated the decision with a congratulatory email, which some of the Timbers Army received. I can understand wanting to protect your domain, but as has been pointed out, it's not as if the city was the only group to profit from these districts, as schools and other public services have benefited from these. I wonder what will happen now if schools try these type of bonds to finance their expansion, and how some people might react to it? What frustrated me about their conduct during the hearing and afterwards is that Portland Public Schools was the only group with their hands out so to speak, saying the idea would harm them, yet other school districts would be affected as well. Plus, this idea had been on the table for months, and instead of being constructive and helping the process along, you wait for an last minute tactic to attempt to destroy it. Wow, that's thinking about the city as a whole.
I get that educating kids is expensive and schools need attention, but I also have an educator in my family and a relative that works for a school as a secretary, and I get to see the other side of the equation. Teachers working long hours with little direction, trying to manage the testing needs with actual learning, while the districts continue to throw money at the situation and the results are average at best. Two issues that I see with the schools is the budgeting process itself and the influx of new students. Oregon's budget process doesn't allow districts to keep any funds they don't spend, so agencies need to spend it in order to prove it was a need, and if you don't spend it, it may or may not be added in future budgets. So instead of spending wisely and trying to save, it's a matter of spend it or else, so many decisions may not be the wisest. And when you are trying to educate a vastly changing populace about here, I know it's a challenge, but is it the right choice to try and educate kids in Spanish, hoping they will be able to catch up with the rest of the class? Not that I want to pile on complaints I hear about all the time, but it is frustrating to hear about children who either can't learn English or don't want to, so it's a matter of the districts to meet the need, even if that slows down everybody else. I get that for many people that move here, it's comfortable to speak in your native tongue, but at the same time, say I moved to Italy, I wouldn't expect the Italians to all speak English for me, I'd learn the language.
And I never want to short change the schools, because I understand education is important, but at the same time, is that the only thing that should even benefit from state budgets, city budgets or windfalls? I remember being told that school districts would fail if they didn't get more money, and that conversation was when I was in 7th grade, which is almost 30 years ago. I kept hearing it during my school days there, while in Spokane at college, and during the nearly 20 years I've lived in Oregon. At some point, you have to ask yourself when is it enough? The gloom and doom message is great every now and then, and it's easy to say it's about the kids and their future, but at what point do you have to start asking yourself is it time to look elsewhere? I'm not advocating pulling massive amounts of money out of schools, but rather look at the financing angle and see if there's a better way to do this. The tax structure in Oregon is already wacky, and subject to the volatility of the housing markets, since property tax remains a key funding source, and the ups and down of employment. If people are losing homes and jobs, that does impact us greatly as a state, but when things are good in those areas, we are fine. Maybe it's time to find something more stable.
But at this point, those discussions are long off, and probably won't happen for a while. For now, the focus is on contacting MLS to alert them to what Portland can bring, and providing grass roots support when Merritt does make his MLS pitch. He will be in Seattle this Thursday to start the MLS season, and while I don't expect an announcement for us there, I would expect it soon. Vancouver has already been linked as a near definite choice, and I'm glad they got chosen. They are a smart soccer market, have great fans, and it's a beautiful city to visit, and I look forward to many trips up there over the years. And the Timbers actually started their season last week in San Jose, and play at the University of Portland on Friday versus New York Red Bull. Showing support of the current USL team helps the overall MLS effort, so if you can come, please do, and if not, find another game soon to attend and bring a friend. There's still a lot to do, and many questions to answer. But one thing is not in dispute. Portland is Soccer City USA, and the MLS is coming, whether the naysayers like it or not.
I'll provide my thoughts about Friday over the weekend, stay dry out there everybody.
Well, I could write it all down, or just link you to Mark Larrabee's last article about it, which really does a good job of explaining the next steps. There's still a lot of work to do, but what this does do is allow Merritt Paulson to start talking more to MLS, and allows more concrete work to be done in firming up the financing. There's still the $15 million dollar question to be figured out, plus there's also the question of where do the Trail Blazers stand on all of this?
As you may know from reading this blog or the newspaper, the Trail Blazers made a last ditch attempt to submarine the MLS deal. I did get a very nice email from the team about it, saying it was miscommunication on their part, but they want to make sure their vision matches the vision for the area. With all due respect to the team, the Coliseum isn't theirs to decide what to do, and the fact that this tidbit of information is even under contention makes me more angry at the team. They've finally got things going the right way on the court, but instead of making smart business decisions, they make short sighted decisions without gaging the impact. A large portion of the team's fan base still can't see the games on cable because Comcast Sports Net isn't on most satellite systems, the team is raising ticket prices in most parts of the arena, and then this. Seriously, are you just trying to kill any good will the town has for this team? I know it's hard to separate the team from the business end, but for me, that's really what I will need to do over the next few weeks. It's sad because I am happy they are making a playoff run, but at the same time, the greed and lack of forethought lately makes me wonder about the culture of the team.
The schools are also ramping up for any fight about the potential of an urban renewal district, courtesy of the commissioner of the county, Ted Wheeler. One organization, Stand for Children, was so proud of their efforts to get this removed, they celebrated the decision with a congratulatory email, which some of the Timbers Army received. I can understand wanting to protect your domain, but as has been pointed out, it's not as if the city was the only group to profit from these districts, as schools and other public services have benefited from these. I wonder what will happen now if schools try these type of bonds to finance their expansion, and how some people might react to it? What frustrated me about their conduct during the hearing and afterwards is that Portland Public Schools was the only group with their hands out so to speak, saying the idea would harm them, yet other school districts would be affected as well. Plus, this idea had been on the table for months, and instead of being constructive and helping the process along, you wait for an last minute tactic to attempt to destroy it. Wow, that's thinking about the city as a whole.
I get that educating kids is expensive and schools need attention, but I also have an educator in my family and a relative that works for a school as a secretary, and I get to see the other side of the equation. Teachers working long hours with little direction, trying to manage the testing needs with actual learning, while the districts continue to throw money at the situation and the results are average at best. Two issues that I see with the schools is the budgeting process itself and the influx of new students. Oregon's budget process doesn't allow districts to keep any funds they don't spend, so agencies need to spend it in order to prove it was a need, and if you don't spend it, it may or may not be added in future budgets. So instead of spending wisely and trying to save, it's a matter of spend it or else, so many decisions may not be the wisest. And when you are trying to educate a vastly changing populace about here, I know it's a challenge, but is it the right choice to try and educate kids in Spanish, hoping they will be able to catch up with the rest of the class? Not that I want to pile on complaints I hear about all the time, but it is frustrating to hear about children who either can't learn English or don't want to, so it's a matter of the districts to meet the need, even if that slows down everybody else. I get that for many people that move here, it's comfortable to speak in your native tongue, but at the same time, say I moved to Italy, I wouldn't expect the Italians to all speak English for me, I'd learn the language.
And I never want to short change the schools, because I understand education is important, but at the same time, is that the only thing that should even benefit from state budgets, city budgets or windfalls? I remember being told that school districts would fail if they didn't get more money, and that conversation was when I was in 7th grade, which is almost 30 years ago. I kept hearing it during my school days there, while in Spokane at college, and during the nearly 20 years I've lived in Oregon. At some point, you have to ask yourself when is it enough? The gloom and doom message is great every now and then, and it's easy to say it's about the kids and their future, but at what point do you have to start asking yourself is it time to look elsewhere? I'm not advocating pulling massive amounts of money out of schools, but rather look at the financing angle and see if there's a better way to do this. The tax structure in Oregon is already wacky, and subject to the volatility of the housing markets, since property tax remains a key funding source, and the ups and down of employment. If people are losing homes and jobs, that does impact us greatly as a state, but when things are good in those areas, we are fine. Maybe it's time to find something more stable.
But at this point, those discussions are long off, and probably won't happen for a while. For now, the focus is on contacting MLS to alert them to what Portland can bring, and providing grass roots support when Merritt does make his MLS pitch. He will be in Seattle this Thursday to start the MLS season, and while I don't expect an announcement for us there, I would expect it soon. Vancouver has already been linked as a near definite choice, and I'm glad they got chosen. They are a smart soccer market, have great fans, and it's a beautiful city to visit, and I look forward to many trips up there over the years. And the Timbers actually started their season last week in San Jose, and play at the University of Portland on Friday versus New York Red Bull. Showing support of the current USL team helps the overall MLS effort, so if you can come, please do, and if not, find another game soon to attend and bring a friend. There's still a lot to do, and many questions to answer. But one thing is not in dispute. Portland is Soccer City USA, and the MLS is coming, whether the naysayers like it or not.
I'll provide my thoughts about Friday over the weekend, stay dry out there everybody.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
One Step Closer
Merritt Paulson: "We get the facility worked out, we're getting a team. You heard it here first".
And with those words, things to get MLS to Portland just became a lot closer, and less of a pipe dream. But really, to get where we are now, we need to review some events from the last few days.
Tuesday, February 24th - Today really had two major events happening that affected the MLS to Portland bid, a presentation in Salem to the state legislature to win support for the team and for asking for modifications to House Bill 2531. This was a bill passed back in 2003, when Portland was trying to lure the then Montreal Expos to come here by setting up bonds for the eventual building of an MLB stadium, with the revenues being paid back from team revenues and taxes on players salaries. The bill passed rather easily, but now with MLB coming here a long time away, Paulson would like to amend this bill to include possible help for refurbishing PGE Park by changing the bill to include MLS as a viable option. The language would need to be altered a bit, but essentially the bill would work the same. Granted, MLS salaries aren't nearly in the millions of dollars you find in MLB, but between that and team revenues, this could provide a small chunk of money to help. A few members of the Timbers Army also went along to provide support for the presentation, to give a fan's perspective. While the Senate President is behind the bill, I expect that they'll be some discussion and it will pass barely. A lot of the discussion around this is based on talk you hear in Portland, basically why do this now when things are struggling, but as with the city bond proposal, this is simply bonds issued by the state paid back by a dedicated fund that doesn't affect state services.
That theme also played out later that night at Portland City Council, where the Stadium Task force continued their meeting, and then had a public forum for comments. Paulson was there, along with other Timbers officials, as well as a rather large contingent of Timbers Army. The meeting itself was from 4 to 5:30, and then public comments started at 6 pm for 90 minutes. 26 people spoke to the positive of bringing MLS here, only 5 wanted to talk on the negative side. But apparently, the positives spoke and spoke well. The Timbers Army had once again mobilized its forces to appear there, and many of them spoke about the team's benefits to the area, benefits to youth soccer, how popular soccer is here, the stadium deal and its benefits, the influence soccer has in the area, and many other personal stories about the Timbers. My friend Obi captured many of the stories, and it is truly some amazing stuff. I couldn't attend the festivities because it was bowling finals for my team, and I was where I was needed, even though my spirits was with my fellow TA downtown. And most of the comments were what was expected. Granted, I understand the concerns of veterans who don't want to see Memorial Coliseum razed, but I believe a very nice memorial can be made if that is the chosen site for the baseball stadium.
But while I couldn't be at the hearing, I was able to contribute some help to the cause on the Oregon Live site, after Paulson had posted a guest opinion supporting the MLS bid. It was a well written piece that said many of the things about the bid that we all knew, and the commentors wasted no time in trying to tear it apart with the same arguments. I tried to defend the positions by simply putting things back on them, stating this wouldn't affect general services, this is a win for the city by bringing jobs here, and it would bring another major league sport here which is a win for us, but some people continued to dig their heels in. And honestly, you can't expect everyone to turn on a dime with this. While I appreciate their eagerness to protect the city and they are at least asking questions, the fact that many of them didn't participate in the public comments was distressing. I know that week nights are tough for some people, so my hope is that they emailed at least. I don't necessarily care that they don't like the idea, but I want the comments to be heard, just the same because that's the process. The fact that most of the arguments could be easily refuted, though, told me that there wasn't a lot of research done.
And one of the most major arguments against the proposal came courtesy a while back from Jules Boykoff, a writer who had done pieces about the failure of stadiums to influence urban areas. Surprisingly enough, Mr. Boykoff did a piece on the same day, but this time, providing some support to the MLS idea. The fact that he came around was surprising, but even he admitted there were some potential benefits here, as long as the terms of the deal didn't hurt the city. And when Merritt Paulson guaranteed the bonds as part of his comments on Tuesday (well, actually his family did), that took one big hurdle out of the equation. Basically, they are guaranteeing repayment of the bonds, regardless of team performance. This means the city isn't on the hook, although the actual terms need to be figured out. But the fact that Paulson is willing to put his name on the line is a big deal.
Thursday, February 26th - The Oregonian Editorial Board provides support to the MLS deal, provided the terms meet up to the right standards and questions can be answered. I get the fact that the newspaper is cautious in their support, but the fact that they can understand this idea has validity means something. And the fact that the board is normally conservative with support and they are still behind this is a great thing, because I don't find them normally convinced of most ideas unless the risk is so minimal, it's painfully obvious to do what they recommend.
What we didn't expect was another editorial by Adam Sanchez, who asked the simple question of why should we bail out Merritt Paulson? I suppose if you had no idea about MLS or PGE Park, this might be a valid question, but in checking on the background of the author, he's a very politically active person in the socialist circles, he's been arrested in a peace march, and is a graduate of Lewis and Clark, and wants to write the next great book about Portland and its socialist leanings. I learned all this by watching the Soccer City USA board light up with comments after his column was published, and there was plenty to find out about his background and activities. Mr. Sanchez raised a few questions that really could again be easily refuted, as basically Paulson can't buy PGE Park and refurbish it himself because the city doesn't want to sell it and even if they did, the MAC Club has first refusal rights. Even if we wanted to use stadium revenues to fund schools, the city rules state that the earnings of PGE Park go into a stadium fund for use there. Even if Paulson could pay for everything, the city would get nothing out of the deal, so why not involve them in a partnership.
The rallying cries for refuting this article came from all over, and later in the day on 95.5 The Game, the TA's own Finnegan appeared on Strong at Night to go over many of the thoughts about how MLS is good in his own way. Some of the callers into the show didn't share the enthusiasm of Finn, including one person who thought that soccer was gay so why spend money supporting a gay sport for gays. I'm personally ashamed that an intelligent person would make such a crass remark, but then again, I don't think this person is that smart if they think this. It's not that I think everyone should like soccer, but there's no need to despair it so. Merritt also appeared later and had some very key announcements:
There is a rally on Saturday in downtown, and the information is posted below. I invite you to drop by and lend support, whether you are a soccer fan or someone that just loves the city and wants to see it do well. Or, if you simply want to learn more about MLS to Portland, you can drop by and talk to people. The dream is as close as it's ever been, but there's still more to be done. I'll have my perspective from the rally and pictures later this weekend.
WHAT: A fan march and rally to show our community support to bring an MLS team to Portland!
WHEN:Saturday, Feb. 28
And with those words, things to get MLS to Portland just became a lot closer, and less of a pipe dream. But really, to get where we are now, we need to review some events from the last few days.
Tuesday, February 24th - Today really had two major events happening that affected the MLS to Portland bid, a presentation in Salem to the state legislature to win support for the team and for asking for modifications to House Bill 2531. This was a bill passed back in 2003, when Portland was trying to lure the then Montreal Expos to come here by setting up bonds for the eventual building of an MLB stadium, with the revenues being paid back from team revenues and taxes on players salaries. The bill passed rather easily, but now with MLB coming here a long time away, Paulson would like to amend this bill to include possible help for refurbishing PGE Park by changing the bill to include MLS as a viable option. The language would need to be altered a bit, but essentially the bill would work the same. Granted, MLS salaries aren't nearly in the millions of dollars you find in MLB, but between that and team revenues, this could provide a small chunk of money to help. A few members of the Timbers Army also went along to provide support for the presentation, to give a fan's perspective. While the Senate President is behind the bill, I expect that they'll be some discussion and it will pass barely. A lot of the discussion around this is based on talk you hear in Portland, basically why do this now when things are struggling, but as with the city bond proposal, this is simply bonds issued by the state paid back by a dedicated fund that doesn't affect state services.
That theme also played out later that night at Portland City Council, where the Stadium Task force continued their meeting, and then had a public forum for comments. Paulson was there, along with other Timbers officials, as well as a rather large contingent of Timbers Army. The meeting itself was from 4 to 5:30, and then public comments started at 6 pm for 90 minutes. 26 people spoke to the positive of bringing MLS here, only 5 wanted to talk on the negative side. But apparently, the positives spoke and spoke well. The Timbers Army had once again mobilized its forces to appear there, and many of them spoke about the team's benefits to the area, benefits to youth soccer, how popular soccer is here, the stadium deal and its benefits, the influence soccer has in the area, and many other personal stories about the Timbers. My friend Obi captured many of the stories, and it is truly some amazing stuff. I couldn't attend the festivities because it was bowling finals for my team, and I was where I was needed, even though my spirits was with my fellow TA downtown. And most of the comments were what was expected. Granted, I understand the concerns of veterans who don't want to see Memorial Coliseum razed, but I believe a very nice memorial can be made if that is the chosen site for the baseball stadium.
But while I couldn't be at the hearing, I was able to contribute some help to the cause on the Oregon Live site, after Paulson had posted a guest opinion supporting the MLS bid. It was a well written piece that said many of the things about the bid that we all knew, and the commentors wasted no time in trying to tear it apart with the same arguments. I tried to defend the positions by simply putting things back on them, stating this wouldn't affect general services, this is a win for the city by bringing jobs here, and it would bring another major league sport here which is a win for us, but some people continued to dig their heels in. And honestly, you can't expect everyone to turn on a dime with this. While I appreciate their eagerness to protect the city and they are at least asking questions, the fact that many of them didn't participate in the public comments was distressing. I know that week nights are tough for some people, so my hope is that they emailed at least. I don't necessarily care that they don't like the idea, but I want the comments to be heard, just the same because that's the process. The fact that most of the arguments could be easily refuted, though, told me that there wasn't a lot of research done.
And one of the most major arguments against the proposal came courtesy a while back from Jules Boykoff, a writer who had done pieces about the failure of stadiums to influence urban areas. Surprisingly enough, Mr. Boykoff did a piece on the same day, but this time, providing some support to the MLS idea. The fact that he came around was surprising, but even he admitted there were some potential benefits here, as long as the terms of the deal didn't hurt the city. And when Merritt Paulson guaranteed the bonds as part of his comments on Tuesday (well, actually his family did), that took one big hurdle out of the equation. Basically, they are guaranteeing repayment of the bonds, regardless of team performance. This means the city isn't on the hook, although the actual terms need to be figured out. But the fact that Paulson is willing to put his name on the line is a big deal.
Thursday, February 26th - The Oregonian Editorial Board provides support to the MLS deal, provided the terms meet up to the right standards and questions can be answered. I get the fact that the newspaper is cautious in their support, but the fact that they can understand this idea has validity means something. And the fact that the board is normally conservative with support and they are still behind this is a great thing, because I don't find them normally convinced of most ideas unless the risk is so minimal, it's painfully obvious to do what they recommend.
What we didn't expect was another editorial by Adam Sanchez, who asked the simple question of why should we bail out Merritt Paulson? I suppose if you had no idea about MLS or PGE Park, this might be a valid question, but in checking on the background of the author, he's a very politically active person in the socialist circles, he's been arrested in a peace march, and is a graduate of Lewis and Clark, and wants to write the next great book about Portland and its socialist leanings. I learned all this by watching the Soccer City USA board light up with comments after his column was published, and there was plenty to find out about his background and activities. Mr. Sanchez raised a few questions that really could again be easily refuted, as basically Paulson can't buy PGE Park and refurbish it himself because the city doesn't want to sell it and even if they did, the MAC Club has first refusal rights. Even if we wanted to use stadium revenues to fund schools, the city rules state that the earnings of PGE Park go into a stadium fund for use there. Even if Paulson could pay for everything, the city would get nothing out of the deal, so why not involve them in a partnership.
The rallying cries for refuting this article came from all over, and later in the day on 95.5 The Game, the TA's own Finnegan appeared on Strong at Night to go over many of the thoughts about how MLS is good in his own way. Some of the callers into the show didn't share the enthusiasm of Finn, including one person who thought that soccer was gay so why spend money supporting a gay sport for gays. I'm personally ashamed that an intelligent person would make such a crass remark, but then again, I don't think this person is that smart if they think this. It's not that I think everyone should like soccer, but there's no need to despair it so. Merritt also appeared later and had some very key announcements:
- 95.5 The Game will now be broadcasting the Portland Timbers away games for this season, using John Strong and Andy McNamara as on air talent. It's been two season since we had radio coverage at all, and so being able to listen to games from the road is a great move.
- Taka Suzuki will be back.
- We have more talent coming in. David Hayes was signed today, and there is an experienced goal keeper and midfielder with MLS experience coming. Speculation thinks the keeper is Steve Cronin, but Merritt wouldn't say.
There is a rally on Saturday in downtown, and the information is posted below. I invite you to drop by and lend support, whether you are a soccer fan or someone that just loves the city and wants to see it do well. Or, if you simply want to learn more about MLS to Portland, you can drop by and talk to people. The dream is as close as it's ever been, but there's still more to be done. I'll have my perspective from the rally and pictures later this weekend.
WHAT: A fan march and rally to show our community support to bring an MLS team to Portland!
WHEN:Saturday, Feb. 28
- 1:30 p.m.: Meet at the Salmon Street Fountain
- 2:00 p.m.: March to City Hall
- 2:30 p.m.: Rally in front of City Hall (4th Ave. Entrance)
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