I'd presume this to be Turner Construction, the contractor for the 2000 renovations.

Why is Nick the Fish keeping a low profile? Maybe he is salivating over incoming contributions?

I'm sure Fireman Pele has been making life miserable for Nick because he didn't help stimulate Little Lord Paulson by selling out Lents Park.

Roger,
Any word yet if the renovations and public improvements include turning the J-shape of the basic structure into a U? In other words, are we renovating and improving something that is now currently not in existence like a huge new chunk of stadium?

Why would a "sustainable"(privatized) government take the legal course of action and allow open bidding ? That might not be sustainable. The 24 hour money laundromat might go out of business. The Portland "partnerships" are always so disgusting. Luckily, down here in Eugene the leaders and planners all swoon "lets do what Portland is doing".

I dinna like no-bids either, I think you are right to question this. However isn't Paulson on the hook for overruns? That at least should keep the "liars budget" from ballooning too far I would think.

Oh, and on a related note, tonight's US Open Cup match vs. the newly minted MLS Sounders just sold out. That's 17-19K tickets sold depending on how many tarps are removed from the upper sections.

One footy match = $500K+ in tix sales + concession and merch, local biz boost pre/post game in the 100s of thousands, Tri-met usage boost, parking revenue boost, etc.

When the UO arena(no-bid contract) opens in Eugene I hope you will consider posting a attend-ometer for that for the first season. The Ducks will still be on the historic losing spree and the new arena is far bigger than Mac Court and with far more expensive seats.

Bill: No authoritative word, but that would seem the most practical way to do this.

My money's on Hoffman Construction.

Here's my guess: We'll get close to a deal on this and the overrun threshold number for Paulson will jump up just before the deal's done because of unforeseen expenses like the high cost of reality, or there will be a thicket of new deals where we pump new money to him. You know the drill and you know who will get drilled.

At some point we'll be choosing between going to court or caving into more money.

The council will act like they got played, but in reality they just want this started and it doesn't bother them if they get played. In their hearts they probably know much of these numbers are little more than dreams. But they'll go along, because when the wealthy want something, that is what they are there to provide.

Projects are always by definition successful. War is Peace.

By the way, I want to salute the thousands and thousands of brave soccer fans who venture to the game tonight even though PGE Park is currently inadequate for a soccer match. That takes real courage venturing into unacceptable conditions like these.

Turner Construction is building it.

I'm happy to see the less incestuous and more experienced (with stadiums) Turner get to build it over Hoffman, although either way, the taxpayers lose.

Bill M writes ^ unforeseen expenses like the high cost of reality

I presume you mean't "realty" but like your original as well :)

> By the way, I want to salute the thousands and thousands
> of brave soccer fans who venture to the game tonight even though
> PGE Park is currently inadequate for a soccer match.

Those used to large events at PGE Park (Women's WC, etc) are telling me to eat and pee before the game b/c it will be impossible to do during the match.

They have had to turn away 1000s of paying customers due to not having enough seating.

They have had to turn away 1000s of paying customers

Another bogus assertion from clowns in scarves. That number comes from where, exactly?

And don't equate a once-in-a-while match against archrival Seattle with what they'll draw routinely in a regular season. If the league survives, that is.

I've given up on posting assurtions on this blog, I stick to the facts.

My estimate is based on only 400 "standing-room" tickets available for walk-ups (normally 1000s sold). Evidence from Ticketbastard sales velocity also supports more demand than supply.

Your projection of dismal attendance figures for MLS2011 however, is 100% an unchallenged, uncritizied assertion. So be careful where you throws those rocks, that wall over there looks awfully see-thru.

My estimate is based on only 400 "standing-room" tickets available for walk-ups (normally 1000s sold).

That's not "turning away thousands of paying customers," Gene.

Your projection of dismal attendance figures for MLS2011

Did I do that? No. As usual, Gene, you are living in your little fantasy world. Keep going, though. You make my case well.

"Your projection of dismal attendance figures for MLS2011 however, is 100% an unchallenged, uncritizied assertion."

Oh, I don't know outside of Seattle and Toronto, the whole MLS is on a downhill slope attendance-wise.

With this no-bid at least we know how Paulson can fund his part of it thru kickbacks now.

Let me try to break this down.

1) Let's say normally 2,500 tickets sold via walk-ups.

2) Only 400 available

3) That's 2,100 more tickets that could have been sold!

That combined with the fact that Ticketmaster only had single seats available 1-2 days before kick off, and rapidly sold even those off the last day, means that there was lots of folks trying to buy tickets that could not. A conservative estimate would be about 2000, but a seasoned ticket flipper put it at closer to 4k.

Refute my point if you can, but "fantasy world" doesn't cut it. Especially when you have suddenly forgot your assertions that MLS will be going under in a few years, low attendance will kill the bond payback, etc etc.

I don't mind going back and forth with a little snark but if you seriously want to discuss this issue then do it, quit throwing bombs and convince someone that already hasn't made up their mind. I'm not certain this blog has done that yet.

Gene - How would you compare to the other exhibition match against Club America a oouple of weeks back that drew a raging 5000 people.

I mean so what, you get all worked up about playing Seattle when Seattle really doesn't give a whit about Portland.

Avg attendance for the Timbers is less than 10K.

"a seasoned ticket flipper"

You must be kidding me.

Gene, there is no bond payback by Paulson. That is one of the main problems with the Paulson deal. If Paulson is selling so many tickets, then he should pay for his facility, not the taxpayers.

> Oh, I don't know outside of Seattle
> and Toronto, the whole MLS is on a
> downhill slope attendance-wise.

From the analysis that I've seen, professional sports attendance is down nationwide. Despite that national trend, Seattle is selling out and Portland has MLS-size crowds at their USL games.

In my opinion it's a waste of time for the other side to even focus on attendance questions. Initial funding, long-term performance of the league, political issues, all of these are valid concerns (even for me, believe it or not!) but noise like "Mayor Creepy" and "Lord Paulson" and construction companies paying off the Timbers Army drowns out most of this site's signal.

"it's a waste of time for the other side to even focus on attendance questions."

Um, how did you expect Mr Paulson to pay back all the money CoP is lending him?

"long-term performance of the league"

Well, this is round 3 (NASL - FAIL, USL - FAIL, MLS - ?)

How would you compare to the other exhibition match against Club America a oouple of weeks back that drew a raging 5000 people.

Since you asked: I would compare it by saying it was an exhibition against a club no one cares about, advertised poorly, and still managed to do pretty well for an exhibition.

This Seattle game is much closer to what we could expect for the high end of regular season MLS attendance. Play off games and top-level exhibitions will be even higher.

> I mean so what, you get all worked up
> about playing Seattle when Seattle
> really doesn't give a whit about
> Portland.

I know this is rhetorical statement but I just can't help highlighting how obvious it is that this is a deeply personal thing for most of you. But in case you are actually interested in reality you can google "ECS" or Emerald City Supporters and see how very, very serious they are taking us.

> Avg attendance for the Timbers is less
> than 10K.

This is kinda comical in that you are trying to disparage a very good ave attendance for USL.

>> "a seasoned ticket flipper"
> You must be kidding me.

You know all those people trying to buy/sell tickets at events? Believe it or not they actually do it to make money, not for charity. (I know!) Some of them are very good at estimating event demand.

>> "it's a waste of time for the other
>> side to even focus on attendance
>> questions."
> Um, how did you expect Mr Paulson to pay
> back all the money CoP is lending him?

I mean that it's a valid point, but a losing argument. If attendance was the only question re: MLS in Portland we would already have a team.

>>"long-term performance of the league"
> Well, this is round 3 (NASL - FAIL, USL
> - FAIL, MLS - ?)

Your ignorance is showing again. The tiniest bit of research will show you how NASL died (think Enron and the Rolling Stone concert).

USL is alive and kicking, tho a weird league that depends soley on franchise fees from what I can tell.

MLS? Who knows. So far it's still peaking though. Time will tell if the fan growth will match the team expansion in 2011.

Good government? This is GREAT government.

Great for Paulson...

Great for construction companies...

Great for union tradesmen...

Great for Sam/Randy's re-election...

Great for lobbyists...

Great for soccer fans...

Taxpayers got screwed good. Then they get to realize the true cost of these subsidies when Paulson's LLC fails to meet their obligations.

Let the sun shine, let the sun shine, let the sun shine it.... (sing along now).... and this is why sunshine laws and such are good... PDX is getting more crooked than a lazy river in CT

"USL is alive and kicking, tho a weird league that depends soley on franchise fees from what I can tell."

Hey, what do you think Garber's plan is to keep MLS alive? He charges Paulson $35M, makes Randy/Sam jump thru hoops to keep him happy and then hopes/prays the next Ponzi victim will pay $50M to fund the 11 out of 14 money-losers.

Portland has MLS-size crowds at their USL games.

Really? Then we really are doomed:

Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 8,549
Saturday, May 02, 2009 - 6,742
Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 7,566
Saturday, May 30, 2009 - 9,081
Sunday, May 31, 2009 - 5,017
Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 6,427
Friday, June 19, 2009 - 8,111
Sunday, June 28, 2009 - 7,783

When the UO arena(no-bid contract) opens in Eugene I hope you will consider posting a attend-ometer for that for the first season.

I love how people deflect legitimate criticism of unscrupulous practices by pointing out that you didn't scream bloody murder when someone else (in another city) did it previously.

No bid contracts on huge public projects are an indicia of graft. No one should qualify for one of them if there is any indication that they may have used money/bribes/contributions etc., to influence the award.

Until we put something in place to clean things up, we'll be living in the world of political pay-to-play.

The lies continue.

Genie,

If the Timbers are currently drawing "MLS size crowds," then how does Paulson think he will make a go of it in two years, when the Timbers are actual members of the MLS? And if he can't, what chance do the other teams have once the league stops subsidizing itself with "expansion team fees?"

Is something going to change between now and then to boost attendance? Are the Raiders and Yankees are going to switch to soccer? If not, you're just relying on soccer itself as the selling point. Not likely to happen.

To add insult to injury-- they are all out of towners-- the architect, the contractor, the program manager. Not a lick of business for Portland's "creative class" nor relief for the highest unemployment in the nation, a lot of which is in this sector. Anybody have a clothespin I can borrow for my nose-- I'm getting tired of holding it every time I read about this project.

I think we're talking past each other. If the USL Timbers get MLS crowds *or better* then that's a good sign right? So better-than-MLS is even better? Anyway...

Thought I would post to say that no, the bathroom and concessions situation wasn't out-of-control. PGE handled 17K just fine.

Just to be fair.

So big of you.

And what about the field surface? It is soooooo terrible! You can't play soccer on it! Another lie.

There is no need to remodel PGE Park for soccer. It is a fool's errand to satisfy a handful of rich guys' appetites for money and power. The Timbers fans are the pawns.

Nice new portable stands, share the stadium with the baseball team. If that's not good enough for the Timbers, then there should be no deal. But then Fireman Randy wouldn't be such the darling of the construction boys, now, would he?

If MLS is on the brink of collapse, then why is it expanding so rapidly? Seattle this year, Philadelphia next year, and Vancouver and Portland (or Montreal?) the year after that. Am I giving these new owners too much credit by assuming they have kicked the tires before they hand over that franchise fee?

Ben,

Look how long it took investors to figure out Bernie Madoff's scheme. Owners who are in the first few rounds will easily recover their entry fees during the next round of expansion.

Pancho PDX, I think you missed my point. My point was that the crowds will not fill the new arena in Eugene-it is going to fail. Too big and bad timing. I was also criticizing that it was also a no-bid contract deal. All these sport stadium partnership deals are turkeys. Politicians get bribed so they will approve them. So, I think you were off in thinking I was deflecting anything. The UO arena is going to fail and the Ducks will continue their historic series of losses.

If you would like to read the official rationale the Oregon University System gave for making the UO project a no-bid contract use Google with these keywords: ellerbe beckett ous sole source.