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Could Portland be the new home of the Marlins?


Sundodger

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Get ready for a real dog-fight with Vegas this time around seeing how DC is out of the picture now.

Both have similar populations, with one presently out growing the other by leaps and bounds. But Vegas' biggest hurdle is getting big business (i.e. casino companies) to become more supportive.

It's anybody's guess who'll come out on top if they do leave Florida.

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plus with gambling as the leading industry, no major sport wants to be the first one to step foot in vegas and it certainly will not be mlb, i would have to give the edge to portland, especially if the city is willing to pony up the cash for a new stadium.

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It would be a huge positive for Portland. How can it not be, unless you are from a competing city? Anyone who lived in the NW in 2001 understands the tremendous potential value MLB can give a city. The financing plan is a bargain and taxes the people who use and benefit from the ballpark and MLB; landing a team with these terms would be a massive positive for Portland.

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http://oregonstadiumcampaign.com/submission.html

To sum it up, it is a creatively financed $350,000,000 contribution to a ballpark financed by the economic activity attributable to MLB.

So in other words, the taxpayers. Essentially they are taking out $310 million in bonds and hoping the tax collections will result in no net loss. But if it does, the taxpayers are stuck with the bond repayment.

The term "creatively financed" is a good one and brings up images of the Enron logo. But no matter what you call it, it's still taxpayer money. Though at least I personally won't be paying for this one :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

catdr

"Consider the city up the road. Which do you think is more important/valuable to Seattle, the Mariners or the Space Needle? If you are Portland, which would you choose for your city?"

thats a good quote, the mariners brought over in 2.6 to their downtown ballpark last year, and increase from the prior year even with the team not seriously contending.

i doubt the space needle brings that kind of people downtown on a yearly basis, and i think its tough with 2.6 million people coming downtown portland to spend money, i think the initial stadium investment could easily pay off in the longterm.

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catdr

i doubt the space needle brings that kind of people downtown on a yearly basis, and i think its tough with 2.6 million people coming downtown portland to spend money, i think the initial stadium investment could easily pay off in the longterm.

How much are the Marlins bringing to their downtown now? How much is that stadium going to cost the taxpayers now that the Marlins are there no more? The space needle will always be a landmark for Seattle. A winning team could give a citie a positive image. What about a losing team?

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true, in comparing seattle to miami its really apple to oranges when it comes to baseball, however, seattle drew 2.6 million without a playoff team.

the marlins failed to get a new downtown stadium, hence they are looking for a new city. im a tigers fan myself and they have been horrible, but the team still brings well over a million people downtown. if you can minimize risk to taxpayers i feel funding a new stadium is an overall positive investment for a city's downtown

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The NBA is the better fit for Vegas. Looking at the #s, baseball doesn't add up for Vegas currently. It is the toughest sport to support & Vegas's smaller corporate community, transient population, etc. aren't conducive to supporting baseball currently.

http://www.baseballindc.com/wbc_and_dc/viability_1.asp

Good evaluation.

Vegas is too small for baseball. I would bet, (ha ha), Vegas gets an NBA team within the next couple years. It will be announced at the NBA Allstar game in Las Vegas next year. Portland seems like a good choice for a basball team. With that said though... the Marlins will stay in South Florida. It is too big a market for baseball to leave, 6,000,000 people in the three county South Florida MSA. Look for a new stadium deal with the county or one of the cities located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

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i havent been able to keep tabs on this issue, has it died out lately or picking up any steam locally?

is paul allen or knight of nike the logical owners or are there are weathly oregonians that could foot the bill for an mlb team?

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i havent been able to keep tabs on this issue, has it died out lately or picking up any steam locally?

is paul allen or knight of nike the logical owners or are there are weathly oregonians that could foot the bill for an mlb team?

From what I've read it looks like Portland and Charlotte have mostly dropped out of the running and San Antonio is the one big contender.

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i've hear the san antonio negotiations are just a ploy to get a deal out of miami as the san antonio market is smaller then charlotte, portland and even indianapolis, so it doesnt make sense to me to go to san antonio... just my 2 cents, b/c i think portland would be a great mlb city.

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i havent been able to keep tabs on this issue, has it died out lately or picking up any steam locally?

is paul allen or knight of nike the logical owners or are there are weathly oregonians that could foot the bill for an mlb team?

With all the trouble he's had with the Blazers and considering the fact that it looks like he's going to sell the franchise, I don't think Paul Allen will be a part of bringing any new teams to Portland. In all likelihood if a MLB franchise is to come to Portland, it'll probably be a group of wealthy investors, maybe from outside

the area.

I think it'd be great for Portland, the biggest metro in the US with only one major sports franchise, to land the Marlins. Unfortunately the local government is so dogged down in scandal after scandal right now, that the baseball issue has lost any momentum.

And with schools closing locally and a huge controversy looming over the South Waterfront Tram fiasco, it looks like any sort of public financing will be out of the question.

It'd be great to get some private investors to finance a baseball stadium, but there doesn't seem to be a big local push to land a team. Don't get me wrong, I think Portlanders would come out in droves to see a major league ball team, especially with the Blazers future in jeopardy. And Portland in the summer is perfect for baseball.

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yeah thats too bad, i mean i totally understand not spending public funding towards baseball when there is education on the other hand its not a tough argument in favor of education.

im still surprised that washington dc got fleeced by mlb to make taxpayers foot the bill when education is a much higher priority there.

i just feel that the pacific northwest is ideal for baseball and would love to see a team locate in portland.

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