Oregon Public Broadcasting

The decision to abandon plans for a Triple-A baseball park in the Rose Quarter means a very fast timeline to fashion a new deal, for a park in Southeast Portland. Rob Manning has more.

Months ago, supporters indicated that a Major League Soccer team for Portland would mean moving the minor league Beavers baseball team out of the home they share with the city’s current soccer team to the Lents area of Southeast.

At the time MLS granted a franchise to Portland, the team owner and the city said a home in the Rose Quarter would pencil out better for the Beavers.

Opposition to demolishing Memorial Coliseum, and a competing plan from the Portland Trail Blazers have now soured that ballpark plan.

City commissioner Randy Leonard says the city now has to turn on a dime and start negotiating again to send the Beavers to Lents.

Randy Leonard: “Well, we have to have a deal on Lents within the short term, like in the next week.”

Leonard says the Trail Blazers were “less than helpful” in finding space in the Rose Quarter for both a ballpark and an entertainment district. Blazers officials have said they support accommodating Major League Soccer in Portland.