that was PART of the reason. A big reason is that the city of San Diego didn't want to do the "necessary repairs" to the stadium, and the fans didn't want to pay for another upgrade without the guarantee of them staying.
I hate when teams like the Chargers move. The only reason lately that teams have moved is stadium related in one way or another. Cities that take a stand and won't use taxpayer money to build rich owners a new stadium (right or wrong) are paying the price. Now if your argument is that when the Blazers need a new arena that the city won't pay for a new one thus leading to whoever owns them at that point to look elsewhere then maybe you'd be right but it's all just speculation at this point.
So they went from playing in a cement dump like Qualcomm to a soccer band box at the Stubhub Center. I don't know if either is desirable.
Lets just get Baseball to Portland sometime soon. Who really gives a rats ass about Seattle? Starbucks is way too expensive.
I dont think baseball will happen here. I just don't have enough faith that the local populace will pass the necessary measures or give the local groups the tax breaks they probably need to get it done. If it was maybe 30 years ago, I think the demographics were there support of a pro team but now I just have no faith in locals. Hell, I think more people hate baseball here than like it.
I will admit, the local area has grown quite a bit in the last ten to fifteen years, but I still don't see it as one of the cities that will get a new team. Maybe if a team like the Oakland A's moves, I could possibly see that. But they'd still have to have a stadium deal in place.
Since the commish of baseball has pretty much said Portland will be 1st on the list of cities in the next expansion, and the Portland Diamond Group has pretty much said they will pay for the new stadium without using public funds (and there is the tax that the state of Oregon passed...shit, 15 years ago now?), I'm not sure why you're bringing that up as an issue.
And Manfred has also said that Montreal is deserving of a team too, until they have the cake cutting and franchise free paid for, I am skeptical. We have had potential groups interested before only to have it fall through. I am sorry, but like I said, my faith in this matter isn't great.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not convinced it will ever happen here. NOT because I don't think it would work here, but because i've seen this dog and pony show before.
If they expand it will be two teams so they can have 16 in each league. Montreal and Portland aren't competing against each other for the two spots. Baseball has said they want at least one of the two teams to be in the west. Montreal wouldn't qualify for that.
