Unless Uther was referring to PA going to the NFL head offices and requesting that Portland be part of the Seattle Seahawks market. It's absurd. Should Boston and Philly be part of New York's market? Should Baltimore and DC be part of Philadelphia's? But to answer the root question, I'll list a few reasons: 1. An unwillingness for the citizenry to publicly finance a facility. If we would have passed the Delta Dome bond measure, we'd be talking about the Portland Seahawks. 2. A lack of corporate sponsors. Nike is a bad corporate citizen in terms of sports because they can't favor one team over another. Phil Knight can, but Nike can't. If Nike were in the potato peeling business, we may have another team. 3. Our leadership wins votes by being anti-business. You don't get re-elected in Portland by choosing to subsidize sports over schools, parks or bike paths. 4. We're in the hinterlands. We're the West Coast equivalent of flyover country. The perception way over in New York is that one team is sufficient for the entire Pacific Northwest. Hence, the Seahawks, Ms, Canucks and Blazers. 5. We're a relatively newer city in terms of being big. Charlotte has gotten over it by having large corporate sponsors. Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, etc. all have a history. 6. The perception is still that we're a minor league town, kind of like Hartford, Raleigh or Jacksonville. We're fine for sports like lax or soccer, but not worthy of more than one of the Big Four.
I think it's probably safe to say that if we do get another pro team(big four), it'll be NHL. We've got a home for it already. Seems like we've come close several times.
This. I kinda like having College Football (for Duck and Beaver fans) Then Blazers to get through the winter and spring, then when Basketball is getting done there are Timbers for the summer, then we are right back at Football season again. We are fine without MLB (although I wouldnt complain if we had it) and NFL wont be here for a loooooooooooong time.
LOL. I hope most people in the city don't think this way. If they do that would explain why you don't have another REAL major sports franchise. MLS
hey, until the US has English Premier League like soccer, or La Liga, MLS is as good as soccer is gonna get.
By the way the "I couldnt be happier comment" was in response to his saying "***hedaboutit" about Soccer. Of course I would be happy with NFL or MLB as well.
MLB would be awesome in Portland. They could easily construct a stadium where the river, downtown skyline and Mt Hood would all be visible. It would sell the city to the rest of the country. Baseball itself isn't exciting, but the atmosphere at a game is tremendous. There is nothing quite like sitting out in the sun, drinking beers and eating hotdogs......The good stadium ones. It is a relaxing, inexpensive way to spend an evening or weekend day. It also happens to be going on at a time where there is nothing happening in Portland. If Portland got the same design firm that Pittsburgh used for PNC Park, they could hit it huge....no pun intended.
Don't get me started on how we fucked up our chance for MLB. The WANTED to give us the franchise, because of the hell Peter Angelos was going to raise when you took 36% of his market away. Vera was great, but I'd like to cold cock Tom Potter. What a fucking moron.
Careful using cock and Tom Potter in the same sentence, he might take you up on something you may not be into.
Sadly the chances of that getting done any time soon is nil. As was said before, you can thank Tom Potter for that. But hey, at least we get Cesar Chavez Ave. Good job, TP. Does anyone remember that half assed letter he wrote to MLB trying to save face?
