MLB is not expanding anytime soon.
If Major League Baseball decides to expand at some point in the future and ends up with a franchise in Portland, Oregon players on that Portland team could be paying a “jock tax” to help pay for a Portland Major League Baseball venue. Oregon could pay up to $800 million over a 30-year period to help fund the facility. There is no guarantee that the Oregon money will land a Major League Baseball franchise. The Oregon legislature previously had allocated $150 million for stadium costs. There is an arms race of a sort now taking place in states to fund proposed baseball venues. In Utah, the state would kick in $800 million to go to funding the construction of a Salt Lake City baseball park. Oregon officials think there is some sort of MLB expansion team race and they have to get in the game to compete against Salt Lake City, Nashville and other American markets including Raleigh, North Carolina, Charlotte, Austin, Texas, Orlando and perhaps international markets such as Mexico City and Montréal.
Meanwhile, there has been a site picked out in Portland for a Major League Baseball team to play and city elected officials are all for it. Now there are drawings of the proposed stadium. The Portland City Council agreed to formally support the Portland Diamond Project’s plans to bring a Major League Baseball team to the city and to build a stadium along the city’s south waterfront. Mayor Ted Wheeler brought the agenda item to the council a few months ago with the intention of sending a signal to Major League Baseball and to the rest of the country that the City of Portland is “very serious” about landing an MLB team. Putting aside $800 million in public funds sends out a signal but it may not be enough public money.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
