Well, we can feel better than Mississippi, because we have a pro sports team. We're less than Wisconson though, because their Packers are a much better franchise than the Blazers.

P.S. I wonder how many states have zero or one major sports team.

With all the bad press the Trailblazers have given the state, i'd rather have them move to Jackson Mississippi, and let us alone...

Personally, I don't think the city would support a baseball team - or hockey for that matter. Too many games in a regular season. Where are you going to get 25,000 people to go to 81 games a year? Or 50,000 people to go to 40 games a year
or 150,000 people to go to 10 games a year. Think about that. 10% of the Portland Metro area needs to go to 10 games a year. Ain't gonna happen.

BUT... An NFL Team. I'd be down with that. I'd buy a season ticket to see the 10 games a year. And I'd support a stadium.

According to a friendly e-mail from Sen. Gordly's office, the vote was actually 19-11 against. A copy of the good Senator's e-mail explaining her opposition to the Bill (citing its impact on the State's General Fund) is reproduced below.

Apparently, she thinks we should consider letting the Grand Ronde Tribe build a stadium "at no cost to taxpayers, with no impact on the General Fund."

RE: SB 5—baseball stadium financing

The Senate voted not to concur in House Amendments to Senate Bill 5 when it came to the floor today. The final vote against concurrence was 19-no, 11-yes.

Several Senators noted a number of problems with the bill, among them:

Senator Gordly noted that the bill—as written—would create a $ 2.54 million dollar fiscal impact on the state General Fund during the 03-05 biennium, and also remarked that the Grand Ronde tribes had offered to build the stadium at no cost to taxpayers, with no impact on the General Fund. Senator Gordly suggested that the tribal offer was equally worthy of consideration with other competing funding ideas, and that the bill’s proponents find a way to protect the state from the General Fund impact.

Senator Rick Metzger remarked that many of the verbal agreements and understandings that had been made by SB 5 (HB 3606) proponents, such as job guarantees for Oregonians, and participation for minority, women and emerging small businesses were not in the language of the bill. He pressed strongly to have all the verbal agreements and understandings remade in writing and added to the bill.

Senator Lenn Hannon pointed out that SB 5 had been hastily gut and stuffed and had reached the floor in a way that bypassed the Ways and Means Committee and its scrutiny process, which would have discovered the $2.54 million General Fund impact among its other flaws.

Senate Bill 5 will go to conference committee to work out these and other problems before coming back to the floor for a final vote. It will also have to re-pass the House as amended.

Senators Gordly, Metsger and Hannon, and the other Senators who spoke against concurrence were not opposed to baseball, or to attracting a major league team to our state. They recognized the economic development, jobs, prestige, and other benefits that a major league baseball team could bring to the economy, but this bill as written was not the one they would want to support.

Ah, yes, say goodbye to the inevitable taxpayer bailout.

Even if the state's taxpayers were being asked to throw in $10 million or $20 million (which they most assuredly weren't -- read the bill), it would have been worth it.

We spend nine figures in hard dollars every year on a state Economic Development Department that produces very little. This was a freebie that was too good for any rational body to pass up.

But this is Oregon.

Regardless of what the bill says or doesn't say, it's very difficult for me to believe the taxpayers wouldn't have been asked at some point to bail out the project because something went horribly wrong or presumptions weren't met.

But at any rate, I have a bias against Portland being a major sports town anyway, so ultimately it doesn't much matter to me if that nagging suspicion is right or wrong.

The taxpayers of Oregon are forever "bailing out" bad ideas, like the Convention Center, PGE Park, PERS. North Macadam will be the next one. Baseball was a good idea with little risk and potentially high returns. Oh well. Maybe in the special session come January. 8c)

The biggest complaint I have with bringing in beisball is that until they (MLB) fix their monetary inequality, any "honeymoon" over new franchises will eventually wear off if the team doesn't remain (or begin) competative (see Denver).

Of all the professional sports, it's the one that seems to have the greatest chance of institutional suicide.

That's my worry.