OT MLB to PDX: We're talking baseball to PDX

Alcohol

 

Then the two together must go together better than chocolate and peanut butter.

 

Portland Pioneers is the most professional sounding name, honestly.

 

I kind of hope the team goes with Oregon or Rose City instead of Portland.

 

Most Pioneers were conservative small government anti establishment renegades.

 

Pioneers don't have to be people who rode in covered wagons...

 

Unless one broadens their definition of what is a Pioneer; and even then, I'm not sure about that.

 

Yes, a Pioneer could be anyone who, for lack of a better term, is a Trail Blazer

Or innovator.

 

Phil Knight pioneered athletic shoes in Oregon.

Intel has pioneered processors.

I think Oregon has pioneered a lot of things. So it doesn't necessarily have to be someone from the 1800s.

 

From what I heard the NHL wanted a team in either Seattle or Portland. It was a one or the other type of deal as there is already a team in Vancouver. Seattle appears to be getting a team for their "revamped" Key Arena.

I don't know what the percentages are for MLB happening, but this is by far the best chance it's had in my lifetime. Any stadium would have to be primarily privately funded (with the exception of some of the zoning and transportation stuff) as Portlanders likely would never approve a publicly funded one. Not knowing who is behind the Portland Diamond Project is a bit scary but if people like Mike Barrett are to be believed there is more than enough money behind this to make it work. The fact that they have reached an agreement to lease the land and purchase a huge chunk next to it leads me to believe it's not some sort of real estate scam like some have suggested. If that were the case they wouldn't be leasing that spot they'd be purchasing it outright. A lease also means that the owner of the land (Port of Portland) would be responsible for a lot of the issues they might run into developing the land and environmental problems. Since the Port of Portland is basically part of the government it in theory should be easier for them to work with the city to get the zoning issues worked out. It sounds like the mayor is on board too which helps. They also just hired a lobbyist who is a very powerful liberal in Oregon who used to work for the government and she is known to get things done (I can't remember her name).

The group is already millions of dollars into this process. I don't know why they would go through all this effort if they didn't believe it was a realistic opportunity. Even MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has mentioned Portland as a possible expansion team. When they expand in a few years there is going to be a team in the Pacific Time Zone and Portland is the most logical of the options if they have a stadium plan and an owner already. They've already helped the MLB out with Oakland announcing their proposals for a new stadium. It wasn't a coincidence that they announced that a day or two before the Portland announcement. Portland is being used as leverage to get new stadiums for the A's and Rays, which is totally fine if it results in us being rewarded with an expansion team because of it. When the Expos moved, Portland didn't have their shit in line like this group does. The people in Washington DC did and that is why they got the team.

I'm really trying not to get too excited but at this point I think it is more likely to happen if MLB does indeed expand than not to happen. It's never been close to happening in past deals. If the government at the time would've allowed Spirit Mountain to build the stadium in exchange for being able to open up a casino downtown then mayyyyybe it would have happened back then but that wasn't going to be allowed. I don't think very trusted people like Mike Barrett, Russell Wilson, Ciara, Dale Murphy, etc. would be putting their reputations on the line for this if it wasn't real.

 

And they're going to Pioneer a new age of baseball!

 

The only shitty about about Pioneers is what kind of cool nicknames can you come up with?

 

oh yes they do! lol

 

One man stood in the way of it happening back then, - Ted Fucking Kulongoski. The asshole ran on a pro jobs ticket and then less than 2 months after taking office, absolutely refused to even talk to the Grand Ronde tribe who was offering to build a stadium and give it to the state in exchange for being allowed to build in operate a casino in the Portland metropolitan area. The fucker flat out lied when he promised his number 1 priority was to help create more jobs in Oregon. Major league baseball and a casino would have both brought hundreds of direct and indirect jobs to the area. And it would not have cost one penny. He just flat out refused to even meet with them.

Here's what Dwight Jaynes said about it at the time:

Governor bet wrong on casino gift horse

I don't have a history of agreeing with Dwight Jaynes, but he nailed it in this short article.

"But with all that said, I can't understand how a state official can, in good conscience, turn his back on the number of jobs these two construction projects would create. The jobs and resulting state taxes that a ballpark and casino would generate should be impossible to pass up.

No offense, Governor, but this is a chance for Portland to become a serious tourist destination for the entire Pacific Northwest. Local bettors no longer would need to hop a plane to Nevada.

And it comes at no financial cost to a single citizen in this state. It's a windfall at a time when Oregon simply can't afford to not seriously consider anything good for the economy. If I were a Portland business owner, I'd be livid about a governor holding us back.

At a time when we need major league politicians, it appears that we might have a bush-league governor."

In case you can't tell. I am still pissed off that I voted for that lying POS.

BNM

 

I don't know about nicknames but just a P using a cool font would be fine as the logo and would also fit with baseball.

 

Yeah, I remember it well. Not only would I have loved MLB but I also enjoy going to a casino so it would have been the best thing ever for me.

 

You may as well ask Lewis & Clark College Students for the nicknames if you are going to use their team name.

 

At the time the high tech industry was experiencing a major downturn, with Intel and others laying off thousands. Kulongoski ran with job creation as his number 1 priority, and then as soon as he was sworn in he did a major about face and refused to even meet with the Grand Ronde tribe, because he was morally opposed to gambling in the Portland area (in a state that already had sports action and state run video poker). That made him a liar and a hypocrite in my eyes.

And, instead of a tax payer funded stadium, the state would have gotten a free stadium plus all the tax revenue from the tourism and new jobs. He could have completely turned around the economy without doing any heavy lifting. The Grand Ronde were willing to do it for him. Moron.

BNM

 

Honestly it’ll probably be named that

 

We could have had the Raiders if people had voted for the stadium.