Oregon Public Broadcasting

The effort to overhaul Portland's Memorial Coliseum may be turning from a competitive process to a collaborative one.

As Rob Manning reports, the three interested development teams are working past a deadline on Monday to continue work on a possible compromise. 

Mayor Sam Adams initially gave the three competitors until May 10th to present a compromise proposal - if they were going to compromise at all.

Officials with the Trail Blazers, the Memorial Athletic and Recreation Center, and the Veterans Memorial Arts and Athletic Center say that no deal is imminent. But representatives from all three teams are using words like “optimistic” and “constructive” to describe the talks.

Further meetings are scheduled for later this week, but none of the team representatives wanted to give details of what's being discussed as a potential compromise.

The three proposals share one thing: that Memorial Coliseum would continue to be a performance venue. The three finalists have varied opinions on how big the arena should be, and what should surround it.

If the three teams don't reach a deal, the city has asked for formal proposals by early June.