![]() "My focus continues to be on addressing our city's immediate challenges," Wheeler says, "creating more housing, helping those experiencing homelessness, and maintaining a safe livable city." The Diamond Project is trying to lure him with the promise that a stadium deal would include 8,000 units of housing. Mayor Ted Wheeler has signaled his lack of support, saying the city has higher priorities, including the housing crisis. Key political interests, including the state's public employee unions, are unlikely to back the diversion of tax dollars to billionaires. So far, neither the mayor, governor or any legislative leader. ![]() The best thing going for them: They've hired two of the right people-Irwin Raij, a New York lawyer who specializes in baseball law (and other professional sports work), and Populous Architects, a Kansas City firm that's similarly the go-to company for ballparks.īut that won't mean much until a political or financial champion surfaces. Not based on the team it's fielding today: three Republicans with limited political traction. So does the Portland Diamond Project have the juice to get public funding? "That means a commitment to the necessary infrastructure and a productive private-public financing partnership." "MLB wants to be in a city where it is embraced, and it will embrace the city in return," Cheek tells WW. Those may be the easiest dollars to obtain-since they dovetail with existing city priorities. Most of all, the league will want to see city and state leaders invest transportation dollars to make sure fans can conveniently get to and from the ballpark. If they do, however, possibilities include going back to the Legislature to raise the cap set by the 2003 law increasing the taxes on hotels and car rentals or creating a urban renewal district or a local improvement district. The Portland Diamond Project has said it won't look for new programs for public subsidies. "The average new stadium has been about 60 percent publicly funded over the past two decades," says Andrew Zimbalist, who teaches sports economics at Massachusetts' Smith College. It points to a $150 million tax incentive created by the Oregon Legislature in 2003. The Portland Diamond Project says it will use existing programs to get that funding. Major League Baseball won't give us a team without it. If they're looking for mega-rich owners, why does public funding matter? "We know who we're working with and what it's going to take." "We are not deterred by any of the skepticism," says Portland Diamond Project president and managing director Craig Cheek. The silence is creating doubt in Portland that the private money will materialize. The group has remained silent about who those billionaires are. ![]() The Portland Diamond Project would probably have to turn to out-of-state investors. They're looking for $800 million in equity from investors, they say.Īt least one of the state's few billionaires-Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle-says he isn't interested. The group say it's a roughly $2 billion project: half for the team and half for the stadium. ![]() To get a team in Portland, 75 percent of the current owners would have to sign off on the deal.Baseball owners are usually billionaires. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has said he would like to expand the 30-team league by two teams, and cities such as Charlotte, Mexico City and Montreal-former home of the Expos-are considered favorites. Led by Craig Cheek, the Portland Diamond Project will buy land in the area and begin the process of building a ballpark in the hope of becoming owners of the new franchise if MLB ever greenlights expansion into the market. Terms haven’t been disclosed, but Wilson and Ciara have become financial partners with the Portland Diamond Project, a group whose sole mission is to bring this second pro sports franchise to the city. The Seattle Seahawks quarterback and his wife, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Ciara, have signed on with an ownership group led by a former Nike executive, who is trying to bring an Major League Baseball franchise to Portland, Oregon. After being drafted by the Orioles and playing in spring training games for the Rangers and the Yankees, Russell Wilson is getting serious about Major League Baseball-as an investor. ![]()
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