I don't understand why soccer gets Civic and baseball moves. It seems to me it would make more sense to continue to use Civic for baseball and put soccer somewhere else, since apparently Civic would need to be renovated for soccer (and it was just renovated for baseball not that long ago). barfo
For one, it would drop PGE parks usage by 71-72 home games of AAA baseball to the new park. PGE park would only have 15 home games of USL soccer and 2-3 home games of other clubs, plus 5-6 PSU football games and some High School games. PGE park would be dark most of the summer, unused until we get the new MLS team. The new ballpark would cause more traffic headache for the I-5 southbound/I-84 eastbound ramp out of the rosequarter. Broadway Bridge and Interstate would be jammed as well. Max usage would go up however. This new idea of a separate ballpark is a mixed bag in my books.
as i understand it, they would build a AAA stadium that could easily be expanded in the event of a Major League team coming here. i agree the site is a little weird and would be a nightmare traffic wise, but anything going in that direction is good to me. i still don't know why the city rejected the grand ronde tribe a few years back.
Well, if it was a tribal facility at least we wouldn't have to worry about the 10 foot smoking rule around doors at the building since its a tribal run ballpark. Could this mean we could have a separate Oregon Lottery room where we could smoke?
It wasn't a "tribal run" ballpark. One of the tribes (or a group of them) would pay for the stadium, with the agreement that they could then open up a casino in Portland. They would not run or control the stadium at all.
PGE is way too big for AAA baseball, where the Beavers average about 6,000, and the perfect size for an MLS team, which averages about 16,000. The proposed AAA stadium will be about half as big as PGE and will suit it's needs much better. Over sized stadiums are really bad for selling season tickets in any sport. It's also cheaper to re-retro fit PGE into a Soccer/Football specific stadium and build a new AAA park(80m), than to build a new soccer specific stadium (120m) and leave the Beavers in PGE. Also, baseball at the Rose Quarter can only help realize the idea of turning the area into a year round sports entertainment destination.
The notion that there are 16,000 people in the Portland area who would regularly pay to attend soccer games is ludicrous.
I think it's a good idea. Very few people go to Beavers games anyway. MLS would do great in Portland. One only needs to remember the NASL to realize that. MLB would never make it here.
Interesting, thanks for the explanation. Not having attended a beavers game, I didn't realize the attendance issue. Of course, that raises the question, why bother spending $80 million on 6000 fans? (or is the PGE renovation included in the $80 million? - if so, how much for each part?) barfo
80-85m would cover the cost of a new AAA stadium (40-45m) at the Rose Quarter, and retrofitting PGE exclusively for soccer/football (35-40m). Building right sized stadiums for the Beavers and MLS Timbers, as well as year round activity at the Rose Quarter is a no brainer.
Is it? As sports fans you probably wouldn't get too many arguments here, but if you are asking the taxpayers to build the stadiums, they may not think so. barfo
I agree. The city has indicated that the project is a no go if it includes general fund money, I guess we'll see.
Attendance for the weekdays were awful for PGE park because the games were mostly during the day. The only days that attendance were good at PGE park were Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. If the AAA beaver had a following they would have 3000 people each home game.
Yeah, I don't know how long the collective memory lasts, but the fact that the last Civic upgrade was a financial botch can't help this time around. barfo
