'Tis the week before the Legislature and all through the state, the talk of bipartisanship and cooperation sure sounds great.
But in reality, one of the most ambitious political proposals currently under discussion--and one that enjoys support from key legislators
on both sides of the aisle--might never see the light of day in Salem.
The issue is major-league baseball and whether to seek lottery
funding to build a new stadium in Portland. But Willamette Week has learned that on Dec. 22 sports impresario Marshall Glickman
summoned the city's major-league baseball boosters for a come-to-Jesus meeting to persuade them to call off their efforts.
The last business
day before Christmas might seem an odd time to talk baseball. But Glickman, who heads Portland Family Entertainment, owner of the triple-A
Portland Beavers and an exclusive 20-year contract to operate PGE Park (formerly Civic Stadium), has a lot at stake.
He called the meeting
to derail a process that began late in the 1999 legislative session. That's when state Reps. Ryan Deckert, a Beaverton Democrat, and Bill
Witt, a Republican from Cedar Mill, passed a bill okaying the use of lottery funds to finance a major-league stadium--although it didn't
allocate any money for that purpose.
Three months ago, a group of supporters calling itself the Major League Baseball Group hired
influential lobbyist Dave Barrows to go back to Salem in 2001 and convince legislators to allocate $100 million or more of lottery funds to
baseball. According to consultants the MLB Group hired, says Barrows, several major-league baseball teams are failing, and the current
legislative session offers Oregon the best opportunity to attract a franchise. "By '03 the train may have left the station," Barrows explains.
To cajole rural Republican legislators, Barrows enlisted Larry Campbell, the former House Speaker; for Democrats, he hired Alan Tressider,
who lobbies for the Oregon Trial Lawyers.
Back in October, Glickman and his partner, Mark Gardiner, PFE's chief financial officer, let
Barrows know that they didn't approve of his plans. According to a written account of a meeting between Barrows and Gardiner on Oct. 10,
Gardiner tried to derail the lobbying effort before it got started.
Gardiner and Glickman were concerned that major-league baseball could
create problems for the minor-league team that they and their investors are bringing to Portland.
"A big issue for [PFE]," Barrows wrote,
"is that in the short term, their lenders view major-league baseball's arrival as a risk to the lender's security. I asked them if they would
lobby against us and Mark [Gardiner] indicated they would have to and would use local governments, business and the Portland Oregon Sports
Authority."
That October meeting clarified the competing visions for baseball, which prompted last Friday's meeting.
The stakes for
Glickman and Gardiner couldn't be higher. PFE needs to sell tickets for the season that opens April 30. The key to PFE's financial success
lies in the 36 corporate suites it is adding to PGE Park.
Convincing corporate customers to plunk down up to $52,000 a year for five years'
worth of minor-league baseball, soccer and PSU and high-school football is a hard sell made tougher by every mention of major-league baseball.
"It [the discussion of major-league baseball] absolutely hurts sales," says Steve Sloboda, formerly PFE's manager of sales.
Glickman, who
acknowledges that the meeting took place and that the purpose was to resolve the competing visions for baseball in Portland, argues
nevertheless that PFE is on target with its plans. Half of the luxury boxes are already leased, he points out. But Scott Andrews, chairman of
the Portland Sports Authority, says selling the boxes in a stadium that is still under construction "is a difficult process. People in
Portland are conservative and don't like to buy things they can't see or touch."
The larger concern for Glickman is the financial impact
major-league baseball might have on PFE. Depending on how and when a big-league franchise comes to town, PFE and its high-powered investors
and lenders could lose money. "We had to buy insurance to cover that possibility," Glickman says. "The insurance isn't cheap, and it doesn't
last for 20 years."
If somebody other than PFE secures a franchise, they might not need Glickman and Gardiner; to that end, part of the
agenda at Friday's meeting was to make sure PFE stays in control.
Barrows attended the Friday powwow, along with Glickman and Stu Hall,
the CEO of Liberty Northwest Insurance who was recruited as a peacemaker by the Portland Oregon Sports Authority. Hall says he argued for
cooperation between PFE and the MLB Group and that both sides agreed. As a result, Barrows agreed not to seek legislative funding this session.
This decision frustrates some legislators.
"I'm pretty convinced that Portland is closer to landing a major-league baseball team than
most people realize," says Deckert, who along with Witt believes a big-league team could be a powerful engine for economic development. "I
just don't believe Portland is a triple-A town," Witt adds.
