Oregon Public Broadcasting

With the World Series approaching, a baseball drama of a different kind continues to unfold in Oregon.

Portland’s minor league Beavers are running out of time to find a new home.

When team owner, Merritt Paulson landed a Major League Soccer franchise, he agreed to evict the baseball team and convert PGE Park into a soccer stadium. But he wasn’t able to find a suitable site to build a baseball park in Portland. Now, all eyes are on Beaverton.

I’m joined this morning by Rob Manning who has the latest on efforts to move the Beavers to Beaverton.

ROB: Good morning, Geoff.

GEOFF: There is a preliminary deal in place to move the Beavers to Beaverton – but there’s no site, yet. What do we have? 

ROB: The deal would commit a total of 59 million dollars, with roughly a 60-40 split, with the larger share coming from Beaverton taxpayers. Baseball supporters say the deal would cost less than five dollars a month for the average homeowner. Merritt Paulson is committing nine million dollars upfront, and guaranteeing an additional 15 million. You’re right that having a deal isn’t the end-all, be-all, because there’s not a site. But I spoke to Drew Mahalic with the Oregon Sports Authority – one of the lead backers of building a stadium – and he says such a deal is important.

Drew Mahalic: “It’s a huge step to have a preliminary agreement. These things normally do lead to the conclusion of a permanent deal, and ultimately the building of a stadium.”

ROB: A huge step but far from the end of the matter.

GEOFF: Opponents of building a Beaverton ballpark have already talked about referring any city council approval to voters. Local opposition is what chased the Beavers away from the Lents site in outer Southeast Portland.

ROB: The opposition is a little ahead of the game. There’s no site, so there’s nothing for city council to vote on. And there are at least two members of council who aggressively questioned this deal at a meeting last week. So there needs to be a site, and a majority in favor, and then opponents would need to gather signatures. In Lents there was a site. It was a public park that the neighborhood was pretty fond of, and there was a financing deal that relied on more than 40 million dollars of Lents urban renewal funds. The proportion of public and private funds in Beaverton is similar to what it was in Portland – the big difference is that Beaverton plans to spread the cost throughout the entire city, through property and utility taxes, rather than by tapping a local renewal area.

GEOFF: So, everyone is waiting for a site to emerge. Do we know where the city of Beaverton and the Beavers are in actually finding one?

ROB: Word from the city is that they’ve got between two and four sites that fit the criteria. That means they should be close to light rail and close enough to downtown to help revitalize that area. There’s a Beaverton council meeting next Monday night and in theory, councilors could discuss a proposed site. But city officials must not be too close to landing a site, because I’ve been told there are no plans at this point to discuss a baseball site then.

GEOFF: Anyone worried about how long this is taking?

ROB: Merritt Paulson, for one. At the recent Beaverton city council session, Paulson raised eyebrows in Portland when he said failure to find a ballpark site in Beaverton might jeopardize following through on Major League Soccer in Portland. This is what he said:

Merritt Paulson: “If I don’t get a baseball deal done, I’m not going to finalize the deal with Portland. So, MLS will not come to Portland, unless I do a deal for a new baseball park.”

Now, the city of Portland specifically separated the baseball and soccer projects, so that soccer could move forward regardless of what was happening with baseball. Paulson has since backed off a little from what he said, but it seems Paulson is applying some pressure.

His ally with the Oregon Sports Authority, Drew Mahalic is also getting anxious.

Drew Mahalic: “There’s obviously a general impatience on our part, because we really want the process to unfold quickly, so that everybody can plan on going forward with the stadium in Beaverton, and finalizing the renovations at PGE Park for MLS. But we know that these things take time.”

GEOFF: And how is the city of Beaverton feeling?

ROB: The city is sticking by its commitment NOT to use condemnation to take private property for a stadium. The city’s public involvement manager, Amy Miner, says they’re emphasizing that a new arena should fit their broader plans to improve downtown Beaverton.

Amy Miner: “We’re definitely keeping our eye on the big picture, which is to create a more vibrant downtown for Beaverton. And hopefully that would include a multi-purpose venue that could be a community gathering place – maybe it won’t.”

ROB: No one’s acknowledging that there’s a Plan B at this point, but a few weeks ago, there were discussions with Clackamas County, on the other side of Portland, about possibly buiding a stadium there. There’s apparently a suitable site, near public transit, but at this point, all eyes are on Beaverton. The preliminary agreement anticipates reaching a pre-development agreement by mid-November. To make that deadline, they’ll need to have a site by then, at the very latest.